Miners to blame for cost blowouts

Australian resource companies have themselves to blame for the productivity problems that have blighted projects around the country in recent years, with adversarial contractor relationships and bloated layers of middle management contributing to budget blowouts and delays, The Australian reported.

Research from the Centre for Innovative Practice at Western Australia's Edith Cowan University has found that poor communication and reporting structures at large-scale projects meant it could take weeks for issues to reach senior levels of management, adding unnecessary costs and delays.

Chief investigator of the study Richard Fulford said the research had identified "startlingly poor" productivity on construction projects.

In particular, the widespread use of subcontractors in the industry had added unnecessary layers of personnel and impeded the flow of crucial information while giving rise to an abundance of project managers who added little value.

Four uranium mines by 2023: Barnett

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett believes that the state could have four uranium mines within a decade, according to The West Australian.

That is despite the federal government last week delaying environmental approval for Toro Energy’s Wiluna project, which is expected to be the state’s first uranium mine.

Barnett said the industry's growth had been "a little slower than I would have thought" because of the global financial crisis and weak demand after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Although Toro Energy's Wiluna project is still at least three years away, Mr Barnett said he expected the state's four most advanced deposits "within the next 10 years . . . will be producing uranium mines".

Fortescue rail sale and port sale could cut debt burden by half

Fortescue Metals Group could net up to $A8 billion from the sale of a stake in its multi-billion-dollar rail and port network if the miner is then charged commercial rates to use the infrastructure and opens it to third-party access, The Australian reported.

Analysts widely estimated FMG could fetch up to $5.1 billion for a 49% stake in its infrastructure assets, which would put a significant dent in its estimated $10 billion debt.

Credit Suisse's resources team says the sale of a 40% stake could fetch about $4.4 billion.

But its analysts have also suggested that an infrastructure investor could conservatively pay $8 billion if FMG subsidiary The Pilbara Infrastructure charged commercial rates for port and rail, as value would transfer from the mines to the infrastructure assets.