Australia and NZ

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 to be the International Year of Co-operatives (IYC) and Trent Bartlett, for the last 10 years CEO of Capricorn Society Ltd and a founder of Social Business Australia,has taken on the job of chairing the IYC 2012’s Australian Secretariat. We talk to him about Capricorn, IYC, and his vision for the co-operative movement.

Africa Oil Corp has signed a contract with Sakson Drilling and Oil Services to provide a rig to drill the first exploration wells in Puntland, Somalia, for more than 20 years.

Spudding of the first well in Dharoor is expected to commence during the fourth quarter of this year.

Drilling locations have been selected over two prospects in the Dharoor and Nugaal valleys covering nearly 36,000 square kilometres. Each prospect is targeting a gross best estimate oil-in-place of approximately 900 million barrels.

UK-based SABMiller has made a hostile bid for the Australian beer giant Foster’s.

The Foster's board rejected SAB's initial A$9.5 billion (£6.1 billion) offer made in June, saying it was too low.

SABMiller has now taken the offer directly to the company’s shareholders, though it remains unchanged at A$4.90 per share.

Wood Group PSN’s Australian operations form the company’s largest international business unit, with more than 2,100 personnel now working across five Australian regions: Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane), New South Wales (Sydney), Western Australia (Perth) and Northern Territory (Darwin).

Flinders Ports operates seven of South Australia’s ten ports, and with the recent boom in mining activity, has ambitious plans to treble its capacity in the next few years, as CEO Vincent Tremaine explains to Jane Bordenave.

Western Australia’s unique location makes it an ideal region to pioneer some of the world’s most innovative solar power solutions. Jayne Alverca reviews some of the recent achievements of Horizon Power.

Australia’s Equatorial Resources Limited has acquired a 19.9 per cent interest in African Iron Limited, it has been announced.

African Iron owns an 80 per cent stake in the Mayoko-Lekoumou iron project, which is situated next to Equatorial’s 100 per cent owned Mayoko-Moussondji iron project in the Republic of Congo.

Sandalwood is possibly the most valuable wood on the planet; and in Australia the first commercial and sustainable harvesting programme ever devised is just a couple of years away, as Alan Swaby discovers.

Several years ago, Arafura Resources identified the imminent shortage of rare earth oxides. Now, it is about to become an alternative supplier for users worldwide to China’s monopoly.