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By Jane Goldsmith April 22, 2015 WEAK commodity prices and the shift to production will spell pain for WA’s resources sector this year, a new report has found. Deloitte Access Economics’ WA Business Outlook report, released in March, said that despite encouraging current growth figures, the state would struggle as the minerals sector transitioned from the construction phase to production. Medium term economic growth would slow 2.6 per cent in 2014-2015, and private construction would decline 18.1 per cent to $39.2 billion. Construction would drop further to $31.7 billion (19.2 per cent) the following year. ”WA’s great resources-fuelled story is well documented,” Deloitte practice leader Matt Judkins said. “But the transition...

By Jane Goldsmith April 21, 2015 ASX-listed PanAust has shunned a $1.1 billion takeover bid from China’s Guangdong Rising Assets Management (GRAM), dubbing the price “inadequate”. The Laos-based copper and gold producer advised shareholders to “take no action” in response GRAM’s unsolicited $1.71 per share offer, proposed on 30 March. The price was a premium to the $1.22 figure PanAust shares traded at before the bid, but well below a previous $2.30 proposal from GRAM, made in 2014. In mid April, PanAust managing director Fred Hess formally advised against shareholder acceptance, stating the company’s share price averaged above the GRAM offer price, indicating the company had been undervalued. “Whilst investor sentiment towards the resources sector remains variable and driven by...

By Rachel Dally-Watkins 20 April, 2015 DESPITE an almost double year-on-year increase from 2013, gold and base metal asset acquisitions in 2014 were the third lowest in a decade. According to the SNL Metals & Mining report Base Metals and Gold Acquisitions Activity, 2005-2014 there was a “welcome improvement” in mining asset transactions, but noted that the caution shown by mining companies in 2014 was surpassed only by results from 2013 and 2009. “Since 2012 have bought fewer assets that require large capital investment,” SNL stated. “Instead, companies have opted to maximise the value of assets they already own, and to enter joint ventures that reduce costs while at least maintaining production.” According to the report, there were...

By Reuben Adams 20 April A partnership between Komatsu and General Electric will use Internet of Things (IoT) technology to provide crucial big-data analysis services to mining customers – potentially saving each mine millions of dollars a year. The IoT refers to a growing global network of physical objects, including machines, embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity which enable the exchange of data between manufacturers, operators, other machines and connected devices. Under the partnership, Komatsu would send operational data – collected from sensors attached to its mining dump trucks – to a GE data centre in the US, where it...

By Jane Goldsmith April 15, 2015 KARARA Mining has made substantial workforce cuts less than a month after accepting WA’s first magnetite royalty rebate payment – a State Government initiative created to save jobs. “Due to current market conditions and the falling iron ore price, Karara Mining has undertaken a comprehensive business review,” the company stated. “Regrettably this has meant a reduction... of around 15 per cent across our total workforce. These reductions have affected a wide range of positions.” The changes, implemented in mid March, saw the loss of about 70 positions from the company’s Perth office, Karara site and Geraldton Port operations. “Our review process has examined every available option to reduce costs. These changes deliver cost reductions...