Mining giant BHP Billiton can defend its credit rating by scrapping its controversial progressive dividend policy, ratings agency Standard and Poor's says.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's could force BHP Billiton's hand on its controversial dividend policy after lowering the resources giant's credit rating by a notch and putting it on negative watch.
You probably wouldn't believe it if someone told you that Perth-based retailing specialist Wesfarmers was bigger than global resources leader BHP Billiton, but that was the situation last week on the Australian Securities Exchange as the company led by Richard Goyder quietly slipped past the global mining giant.
Mining giant Rio Tinto shipped 11 per cent more iron ore in 2015, helped by the expansion of its Pilbara infrastructure, but has narrowly fallen short of its full-year guidance of 340 million tonnes.
Australia's biggest iron ore miners are expected to slash dividends next month as the price of the steel-making commodity dropped to $US40 a tonne overnight.
South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has renewed his call for an inquiry into the cause of the dramatic recent fall in the iron ore price while in Perth today, as shares in the state's biggest miners continued to fall.
The liquidators of failed engineering contractor Forge Group have gained financial backing to pursue a claim worth about $200 million against Forge's former major shareholder.
Rio Tinto expects to cut its capital expenditure from a previously forecast $US6 billion to around $US5 billion next year, but it's unclear if the new figure includes the expected cost of its proposed Silvergrass iron ore mine.
SPECIAL REPORT: The 2015 CEO salary survey has some surprising names near the top of the list while some of the state's best chief executives are unexpectedly low down.
Indigenous contracting in the Pilbara is getting more competitive, more complicated and arguably more divisive, as players chase a shrinking pool of work.
It is one of the most overused quotes of all time, but if you look at the old and the new of Western Australia's mining industry it is impossible to avoid thinking about the first words in Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.
Sodexo has been shortlisted with two other companies to manage all of Rio Tinto's camps and other facilities in the Pilbara, in the same week it has been awarded a contract to run Shell's Prelude Floating LNG facility.
Perth-based Indigenous Construction Resource Group is poised to become a bigger player in the mining services sector after its chairman, Clinton Wolf, lured NRW Holdings founder and former managing director Jeff McGlinn out of retirement.
A Perth jeweller has used the launch of her first men's collection to call on the mining industry to open its production lines to Western Australia's creative community.
Smart-ticketing company Vix Technology has strengthened its push into the resources sector by acquiring specialist Australian software company Osmotion for an undisclosed sum.
Indigenous contractor Yurra has formed a joint venture with BGC Contracting to provide services to Rio Tinto's rail work in Cape Lambert and Dampier, with the value of the deal undisclosed.
ACA Lawyers has filed a class action against Macmahon Holdings on behalf of the contractor's shareholders over its alleged delay in revealing information about problems with a major infrastructure project in 2012.
The resources sector has dramatically increased productivity in the past year, as lower commodity prices drive a wave of cost cutting across the industry, according to the latest national accounts numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Former mining services company Viento Group is under new leadership after a board restructure replaced all directors, including John Silverthorne, who in July struck a deal to buy all of the compan
Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has been affected by weak commodity prices and is bracing for more of the same, revealing its 2014-15 revenue slid by more than 22 per cent to $2.04 billion.
The former chair of WA Newspaper Holdings, Western Power, and Zinifex, Peter Mansell, has been appointed chair of Darwin-based Rio Tinto subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia, which operates the
Bruce McFadzean has been appointed as the new managing director of Sheffield Resources. Mr McFadzean is a mining engineer with more than 35 years of experience in the global resources industry.
Bruce McFadzean says mining executives need to rethink their remuneration structure, after joining Sheffield Resources on a package that ties most of his income to development of the Thunderbird mineral sands project.
A dispute over the future of the failed Ellendale mine might not be the worst event in the downturn hurting the state's once-brilliant diamond industry, because the much bigger Argyle mine is also facing a fresh threat to its future.
SPECIAL REPORT: Earnings for the state from the powerhouse minerals and energy industries have softened, but agriculture, among other sectors, will create opportunities. Business News also takes an in depth look at Bunbury port, where a big expansion plan needs community backing and solid regional demand growth.
