Sharon Kemp

Follow the money and you discover a class difference in the resources industry not unlike that which dominates the Australian landscape.

If it was promoted on a Broadway billboard, Diggers and Diggers 2005 would have starred the vaudevillian duo Andrew Forrest and Michael ‘Lucky Legs’ Kiernan, a Mongolian trapeze a

After years of delay, the sale of Newcrest Mining’s 22.22 per cent holding in the $1 billion-plus Boddington gold prospect could dictate whether the long-delayed project is finally able to proceed.

It seems common for deals to be struck between mining junior and major, or banker and miner, in Kalgoorlie pubs during Diggers and Dealers, and for gossip, share tips and takeover

Confidence in a booming sector was on show for all to see at last week’s Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie, as Sharon Kemp reports

Mining companies are existing comfortably with booming commodity prices, but Diggers and Dealers delegates were issued a dire warning this week that not enough drilling was occurring in Western Australia to replace existing orebodies.

Mums in Kalgoorlie like to party, party, party.

Anyone who has been through a takeover knows how unsettling it can be on business and morale.

Confidence is high in Kalgoorlie’s residential property market, which is good for investors and home occupiers and bad for renters.

Kalgoorlie MLA Matt Birney’s unwavering confidence has propelled him to leadership of the Western Australian Liberal Party at the relatively young age of 35.

A date of completion has been tentatively set for the 50-million-ounce-plus Golden Mile that no Kalgoorlie resident thought would ever run out of gold.

For more than a century Kalgoorlie has been synonymous with gold mining and its associated industries and activities.

Kalgoorlie has lost its esprit de corps but is more resistant to boom and bust cycles since proximate gold mines have come under foreign ownership.

Virgin Blue fled Kalgoorlie three days before its inaugural flight and is having to be coaxed back to the city.

Kalgoorlie residents are enjoying more of what Perth shoppers have taken for granted for years – choice in expensive items and a quick trip to the local supermarket for daily needs – and Perth retailers could be the worse off for it.