Welcome to the Diggers & Dealers special edition of the Deloitte WA Stock Exchange Index (Deloitte WA Index), a monthly review of Western Australian (WA) stocks and indices. In this special edition, we look at the performance of Western Australian mining companies.

Report highlights

• The Deloitte WA Index fell 10.9% in the year ended 30 June 2013, closing at AU$125.6bn, a result driven largely by volatile commodity prices and uncertainty surrounding economic growth, combining to impact manufacturing activity and investment decisions.
• The performance of the WA Index contrasts the performance of the All Ordinaries Index which increased 15.5% in the year.
• Many commodity prices fell significantly over the 12 month period. Gold fell 23.9%, silver 30.4% and iron ore 14.4% during the financial year 2013.

We recognise five companies who achieved market capitalisation growth over the year ended 30 June 2013. These companies were:

• Sirius Resources NL: Market capitalisation increased by 5,422.2% from AU$8m to AU$418m
• Atrum Coal NL: Increase its market capitalisation by 235.6% from AU$27m to AU$90m
• Hot Chili Limited: Market capitalisation increased by 74.1% from AU$83m to AU$144
• BC Iron Limited: Increase its market capitalisation by 53.4% from AU$260m to AU$398m
• Base Resources Limited: Increased market capitalisation by AU31m, from AU$182m to AU$213m.

Feature articles

• An interview with Mark Bennett, CEO of Sirius Resources NL on the challenges of developing and expanding Sirius’ operations in Western Australia
• The WA Economy: A State in flux
• The ten pitfalls of mining project delivery
• Labour productivity.