Tim Treadgold

Mining Indaba conference highlights infrastructure and transport concerns as Barnett seeks to solidify relationships with African companies.

Colin Barnett will be hoping his encouragement of Africa’s mining sector doesn’t come back to bite him.

After five years in the financial sin bin there is a flicker of hope on the horizon for Western Australia’s magnetite iron ore processing industry, with Gindalbie Metals and Sino Iron in line for a revenue boost emanating from an unlikely source – China’s polluted environment.

There’s still plenty of upside to the state’s resources sector as WA shifts focus to meet customers’ needs.

If nothing else, Bill Beament has just cemented for himself a place in Australian business history by placing one of the biggest bets ever on the future price of gold – and possibly on the future value of the Australian dollar.

The market reaction to a small dip in the iron ore price last week suggests a degree of uncertainty among investors.

Could house prices rise by another 10 per cent this year? Surprisingly the answer is ‘perhaps’, and that’s not coming from a real estate agent trying to make a quick sale.

If the GST rules are not changed, WA risks perpetuating its status as a cash cow propping up inefficient east coast manufacturers and retailers.

It’s called a supply-side surprise and unless the sometimes erratic government of Indonesia changes its mind by Monday, WA’s beleaguered nickel-mining industry could receive a welcome boost.

The passing of Nelson Mandela will have significant consequences for South Africa.

It is said that in space no-one can hear you scream. Amusingly, in a dark sort of way, the same can be said of the stock exchange during a crash because it’s unlikely that anyone heard a peep from the 54 (yes, 54) companies that disappeared from the Australian market over the past six months.

A sovereign risk no longer, Australia is fast rocketing up the charts of attractive destinations for investor funds.

Is the world about to become a better place? That’s not a philosophical question, it’s simply an observation that economic conditions might be better than we realise, as shown by recent developments in China, the US and the UK.

Those who predicted the death of traditional media may have cast their votes too early.

Despite the old enemy’s comprehensive recent loss in the first Ashes cricket test, England’s rise as a sporting powerhouse has been rather annoying for Australians.

A move by the Indonesian government to boost activity in its nickel mining sector could have a positive spin-off for Australian miners.

It has been so long coming, and there have been so many false starts, that most people have missed what looks like the long-awaited fall in the value of the Australian dollar to less than US90 cents, and perhaps below US80 cents.

The public, and major banks, are disappointed with the service level, and service offering, of Australian icon Qantas.

Rated as the world’s fourth biggest pool of contestable cash, Australia’s $1.4 trillion superannuation sector was eventually going to struggle to find viable investments for its members, though not many people expected it take a risk with a plunge into publishing.

It might be playing with fire to own a pair of asbestos gloves these days, but Colin Barnett should borrow a pair before finalising a red-hot deal to sell the Kwinana Bulk Terminal to building mate

Investing in the share market is an inexact science, and biotech stocks can add a further layer of complexity to the formula.

It will probably take Gina Rinehart a few years to catch Bill Gates in the race to be the world’s richest person, but it is easy to see how she might overhaul the Microsoft founder’s swag of $75 billion.

Followers of Fortescue Metals Group and its mercurial chairman, Andrew Forrest, have been on a roller-coaster ride during the past five years; but if the current bout of optimism is well-founded, FMG could be heading back to its record price of $12 a share reached in 2008, and Mr Forrest heading for a $12 billion fortune.

Good news is hard to find in the resources sector, and even harder to find in the case of assets that are offered for sale but fail to attract an acceptable bid.

Amateur investors are continuing to buy shares in Australia's big four banks, which is easy to understand given the eye-catching profit of $6.3 billion reported earlier today by ANZ Banking Group.

Governments the world over seem to think they have some skin in the game when it comes to the business of business.

Karl Simich and his team at Sandfire Resources could be calling for the Dom Perignon in a few days if the local copper mining favourite achieves the once unthinkable and overtakes the stock market value of its potential predator, OZ Minerals.

Investors are betting the experts have got it wrong when it comes to forecasts for the price of iron ore.

It's hard to imagine anyone being unhappy with Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s remarkably generous $65 million donation to establish a system of educational scholarships to rival that created by Cecil Rhodes more than 100 years ago.

Colin Barnett will surely take a consultative approach when it comes to a review of state mining royalties.

When bank deposit rates are less than 3 per cent it’s hard to resist the siren call of an investment opportunity being spruiked at 20 per cent, which is why investors are rushing into residential property – and why many of them will get badly burned.

Low interest rates and banks’ enthusiasm to lend money are two factors driving the heating housing market.