Feature Stories

Falling iron ore prices and shelved capex plans have the market running scared, but analysts ensure Australia’s mining boom is far from over.

BHP has blamed its shale asset write-down on low US gas prices. What lies in store for gas production investment across the globe? (First published August 8)

Oil Search’s gas-feed options read like an embarrassment of riches, making a third PNG train all but a given, while as Woodside abandons yet another dry exploration well, a second Pluto train looks a long way off and growth seems illusory.

Australian rare earth hopeful TUC Resources may just have the high-value deposits to take a slice out of China’s dominance. The rare earth race is not over, it is rationalising.

Origin caused a bit of a spark with its second LNG train announcement, but mostly Australia’s LNG aspirations have been met with exuberant market indifference. Perhaps earlier announcements from Woodside, BG and, most recently, Santos provide the clues.

Communications and IT microcaps Vocus Telecom, Amcom and BigAir are not associated but between them they are successfully exploiting the next revolution in data management, communications and internet access.

Australia’s insurance industry is putting great faith in 2011-12 representing a peak in catastrophes and the ushering in of a new “cat” down-cycle. But what does longer term weather modelling tell us?

Investment Manager Alphinity sees short-term upside in Chinese steel production but a longer term slowing of the Chinese production growth rate. However the big growth opportunity is in LNG.

The price of oil is beholden to storage capacity, refinery capacity, supply issues and Middle East tensions but in demand terms the global economy’s shift from West to East is significant for future pricing.

In two years the price of oil has risen 50% but the price of natural gas in the US has fallen 50%. As America revs up to sell its gas surplus to the world, where does that leave Australia’s dreams of LNG riches?