Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer said on Sunday his nickel refinery in Queensland will be idle for at least eight weeks, due to a lack of ore and because government authorities have not yet fully approved its operation, Reuters reported. Speaking on Australian Broadcasting Corporation television, Palmer said the refinery is offline because there is "no ore" for it to process. "It will take at least eight weeks to get ore on the ground so the refinery could operate," Palmer said.

The proposed sale of a state-owned iron-ore port in Australia illustrates how quickly the slump in commodity prices has ground down the hopes that once accompanied the country’s resources boom, The Wall Street Journal reported. The lower house of Western Australia’s legislature last week approved plans to sell a long-term lease over the Utah Point port in the state’s Pilbara iron-ore mining region.

Bankrupt consumer electronics retailer Dick Smith Holdings Ltd will close down its remaining 363 stores in Australia and New Zealand after failing to find a buyer, receivers and managers of the company said on Thursday, Reuters reported. "Unfortunately the sale process has not resulted in any acceptable offers for the group as a whole or for Australia or New Zealand as standalone businesses," receiver James Stewart said in a statement.

Administrators have moved to sell assets owned by companies belonging to federal MP Clive Palmer, including a Bombardier Global Express aircraft that is the property of Palmer Aviation, which owes $26 million, ABC News reported. Creditors of Mr Palmer's aviation company met yesterday in Sydney and decided to put it into liquidation. Liquidators FTI Consulting said the process would start in March. "At that meeting, creditors resolved to place the company into liquidation, with FTI Consulting to act as liquidators," an FTI statement confirmed.

Australia’s government is considering a multibillion-dollar privatization of public health and welfare payments, as conservatives look for new ways to refill budget coffers emptied by an economic slowdown and collapsing prices of the country’s resource exports, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Australian law firm that snapped up the bulk of scandal-hit insurance claims company Quindell has been forced into restructuring talks amid concerns over the deteriorating state of its finances, The Telegraph reported. Lenders to Slater & Gordon, Australia’s largest class-action law firm, have hired turnaround experts FTI Consulting in the UK as its problems mount following the company’s shock takeover of Quindell’s legal arm last year.

Dick Smith chief executive Nick Abboud has resigned a week after the failed Australian electronics retailer went into receivership with debt of A$390 million ($272.61 million), its receivers said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Don Grover has been appointed interim CEO, receivers Ferrier Hodgson said in a statement. Gover was formerly CEO of Retail Fusion brands and has more than 30 years experience in the industry. The receivers also launched advertisements on Tuesday seeking expressions of interest for the sale of the Dick Smith and Move businesses.

Clive Palmer has lashed out at the Queensland government for refusing to support his struggling Yabulu nickel refinery, as reports emerge that insolvency experts have been called in, The Guardian reported. Palmer released a statement saying the government’s recent refusal to assist Queensland Nickel by guaranteeing a $35m loan was making it “near impossible” to compete in the international marketplace.

ASX-listed coal seam gas (CSG) drilling contractor, Titan Energy Services Ltd, has become the latest victim of the commodity downturn, being placed into voluntary administration, according to a company statement. In its 2015 annual financial statements, the group said its ability to continue in business depended on several factors, including the ability to win new work and raise additional funds.

Australian tax authorities on Thursday published the records of hundreds of companies, including Google and Apple, which show that they paid little or no tax on their earnings in the country, the International New York Times reported. Of more than 1,500 largely foreign-owned companies that reported total earnings over 100 million Australian dollars ($72.11 million) in the 2014 financial year, more than one-third paid no tax, the Australian Taxation Office data showed.