Clive Palmer’s Mineralogy facing legal questions over mining deal; US Fed unlikely to taper stimulus in the near-term: Midday Roundup

A move by mining identity Clive Palmer’s company Mineralogy to take control of an iron ore tenement near Karratha in northern Western Australia is being queried for its legality.

Over six days, the tenement was transferred between Australasian Resources, a company which Palmer is a majority shareholder, to Mineralogy.

The Mining Act calls for transfers between related companies to occur over three months, The Australian Financial Review states. The companies appear to be related as Palmer is a controlling shareholder in both.

WA’s Department of Mines and Petroleum did not investigate whether the companies were connected, The AFR states.

US Fed unlikely to taper in the near-term

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank president Charles Evans has reiterated the Federal Reserve will need to see a “few months” worth of economic data before stimulus tapering is commenced.

In an interview with CNBC, Evans made the case for continued economic stimulus, saying the Federal Reserve may choose to keep some stimulus in place even if there is an improvement in unemployment figures.

“I think we need a couple of good labour reports and evidence of increasing growth… and it’s probably going to take a few months to sort that one out,” Evans said when asked if tapering would begin later this month.

Evans said he remained concerned about the lack of consumer spending.

“We need more customers walking through the door… Anybody can aid that by just calming down and getting things back on track – that would be most helpful.”

Shares up on open

The Australian sharemarket has opened slightly higher this morning, as internationally investors wait to see the results of United States jobs figures.

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was up 15.1 points to 5366.9 at 11:53 AEDT. Overnight the Dow Jones closed 7.45 points down at 15,392.20.