Sydney, Oct 9, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Hillgrove Resources is a month away from completing a definitive feasibility study on its $100 million Kanmantoo copper-gold project in South Australia. Kanmantoo, which is about 55 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, was first operated in the 1840's before low copper prices and a skills shortage brought the operation to a close. Hillgrove hopes to have the historical mine back in operation by 2009, producing about 19,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate and 6,000 ounces of gold on an annual basis. Hillgrove Resources recorded a profit in 2007 after being in the red the previous two financial years.

ABN AMRO and Australian construction giant Leighton Holdings plan to sell a little over $400 million worth of bonds to finance the acquisition of Sydney's Cross City Tunnel Group. No timeframe has been given on the bond sale, but they'll be issued by CCT Motorway Group Holdings. Cross City Tunnel, Sydney's first fully electronic toll road, was designed to ease congestion in the city, but revenue has been down and the project owing banks some $560 million. It was placed in receivership in late 2006. Profits at Leighton Holdings have increased steadily since 2004.

Wide Bay Australia is expecting a 12 per cent increase in net profit after tax to $18.2 million for this financial year. The Queensland regional bank says it plans to distribute more than 92 per cent of the result as dividends. The net profit increase follows a similar growth during last financial year and a 16.6 per cent increase in 2006. The bank describes itself as the most efficient building society in Australia with a cost to income ratio of 53.6 per cent. Wide Bay's profit highlight over the past five year was in 2007.

The full report is available at the following video and audio links.

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/O9BD14QW


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/P84F1Z4C



Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au

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