Norwest. First Sydney office

Mining company, Abterra Australia Pty Ltd, whose parent company is based in Singapore, has opened its first Sydney office, at Norwest Business Park, where it has taken a three-year lease of 114-square metre of office space, at a rent of $368 per gross square metre.

Region. Use of controversial mining techniques

Apex Energy NL, about to start coal seam gas drilling around southern Sydney and the Illawarra, plans to use the controversial ''fracking'' technique to mine directly beside Warragamba Dam, which holds much of the city's drinking water. An operation, which holds many other petroleum exploration licences around the edges of the city and jointly run by AGL and Sydney Gas, at Camden, uses the techniques. The gas industry says the process is long established in Australia and completely safe. A part 3A planning application process for the dam drilling process will commence in March 2011. Drilling of gas production wells is to commence in January 2012. Jeff Angel, the executive director of the Total Environment Centre, calls for a moratorium on new coal seam gas mining in NSW until a transparent, state-wide strategy is developed.

Parramatta's $38 million mining sector

The mining sector in the Parramatta local government area recorded the highest average turnover of $38 million (June 2006). While mining activities are not undertaken in the city, four of the 12 companies registered inParramatta providing equipment and other supplies, have reported turnover between $50 million and $200 million.
Turnover in the mining sector is way ahead of wholesale trade, $6.3 million, and mnaufacturing, $5.6 million, according to a council publication, BizFacts, spring/summer 2007/08 edition. The average turnover of all business in Parramatta was approximately $1.7 billion