Oxiana

MINING company OZ Minerals has become the latest business to overturn a stamp duty assessment by the state tax office based on the contentious ‘land rich' tax provisions.

OZ Minerals will shed a further 189 jobs this week as it closes its flagship Avebury nickel mine in Tasmania due to the low price of the metal.

OZ Minerals says it will defer $20 million of work at its Golden Grove operation in Western Australia, as part of a wide ranging review of its assets in light of the financial crisis.

Oz Minerals Ltd will slash zinc production at its Golden Grove mine in Western Australia by up to 40 per cent on the back of a falling metal price.

Shares in Subiaco-based Strategic Minerals Corporation NL were down 10 per cent at close of trade after Oxiana Ltd announced it would not proceed to the second stage of a farm-in agreement over the Woolgar uranium project in Queensland.