Cyclone damage shuts Jadestone's Stag oil field off WA
The London-listed company may not have fully disclosed to the regulator the full extent of damage to its field off the Pilbara coast.
The US miner illegally destroyed the habitat of endangered black cockatoos for six years.
Canadian firm Vermilion judged the chance of the December spill as "rare" - the same probability it claims for seven planned exploration wells that could affect anywhere along the Pilbara coast.
Chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the miner had responded to all 60,000 comments on its WA expansion plans—in fact, it responded to fewer than 10, and some were unacceptable.
The WA government will soon decide whether Black Mountain Energy can frack 20 wells near the Kimberley's Fitzroy River, but promised measures to protect the environment and the rights of local people are not yet in place.
Alcoa chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the US aluminium specialist could take strong action to boost profits from alumina, most of which it refines in Western Australia.
South West WA's power grid reached a record 91 per cent peak renewable energy share in December - driven by 1,225 MW of new battery storage - while wholesale power prices fell 13 per cent and carbon emissions dropped 15 per cent as coal and gas generation declined.
The green light for Black Mountain Energy comes just months after Federal experts said its environmental risk assessment was "limited and disjointed" and reached "largely unsupported" conclusions.
If the US miner is found to have mined too close to a large jarrah tree, it would trigger an automatic cancellation of its right to mine much of its lease.
An independent review found Black Mountain conducted a "limited and disjointed" assessment that came to "largely unsupported" conclusions.
Pilot Energy is a going concern, but its accounts report "a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt" on that continuing.
Plans by Santos, which negligently caused an oil spill off WA four years ago, to drill seven exploration wells off the Pilbara coast have drawn fire from an environmental group.
Rising gas prices resulting in job losses are inevitable unless the WA government mandates more supply from gas exporters.
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