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The Port of Port Hedland and the trade it facilitated also contributed $2.01 billion to Port Hedland’s gross regional product in FY23, with $678 million direct economic activity supporting an additional $1.33 billion in indirect economic activity. Local income increased by $1.02 billion and supported 8158 direct and indirect full-time jobs locally. In the Pilbara region, it contributed $63.3 billion in gross product, supported 22,487 direct and indirect full-time jobs, and generated $3.1 billion in incomes.

Australia is facing a $25 billion-a-year economic hit as iron ore export epicentre Port Hedland enters a new era of softer prices for the steel-making ingredient, according to a report backed by BHP, Fortescue Limited, Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill and others.

Hundreds of mining lease applications have piled up at the State regulator, sparking concerns the logjam could choke WA’s pipeline of investment. About 500 leases were waiting for approval at the end of December, according to recent data from the State Government. The leases are a crucial regulatory step in the $200 billion resources industry as a stamp needed for businesses to dig up minerals and run mines.

“The REAL horror of the mining/coal/oil/gas sector is the government support and rebates the industries get. Barely any of the profits from Australia’s resources even touch the Australian economy. Instead the money is quickly moved offshore to multinational conglomerates.” Let’s have a look at the facts:

Iron ore major Rio Tinto paid the State Government more than $US2 billion ($3b) in royalties during 2023 out of a total $US6.6b Australian tax bill for the year. The miner — which derives the bulk of its income from iron ore operations in WA — paid $US2.2b in overall taxes and royalties to the State Government compared to a $US2.1b payment for 2022, according to a report released on Thursday

A looming gas shortfall that threatens to curtail industries and derail Australia’s energy transition is the fault of 10 successive government interventions, the Gina Rinehart-backed Senex Energy has declared, and now the country has little time left to fix the mess.

He says he only found out about the “nature-positive” plan a few weeks ago, even though he is chairman of four listed companies and has investments in all pockets of the country. Gina Rinehart’s Hancock is the other company brave enough to publicly raise the alarm bells – most businesses seem to be hiding behind the Business Council of Australia, lobbying on their behalf, or worried about political backlash.

LACK OF SUPPLY THREATENS POWER GRID Gas generators may be forced to burn diesel to keep the power grid running after authorities warned that states face a catastrophic supply shortfall from next year unless new sources of supply are developed. The Australian Energy Market Operator revealed that gas generators could have to run on diesel through to 2026 during periods of high demand, due to the lack of gas on the east coast. Gas generators were last forced to use diesel to prop up the electricity grid in 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a domestic crisis.

We could run out of gas on chilly days as early as next winter, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has warned again. The SMH reports ExxonMobil and Woodside Energy are preparing to shutter one of three key plants that process gas from the Bass Strait, the 50-year-old Gippsland Basin, which has provided two-thirds of the southern states’ gas appetite.

One of Gina Rinehart’s top lieutenants says the Albanese government’s so-called nature-positive laws pose a huge threat to farming and mining. Hancock Agriculture boss Adam Giles said the process “smelled” like a repeat of the shambolic Indigenous heritage legislation rolled out by West Australia’s Labor government last year.