Hunnu on the campaign trail
August 11 - 17, 2010
HUNNU Coal chairman Matthew Wood is just back in Australia after roadshowing his company in Hong Kong and China ahead of the company’s eventual plan to dual list on the Hong Kong exchange to take advantage of massive Chinese interest in Mongolian coal.
2020 vision
June 30 - July 6, 2010
LOCATION, location, location is the real estate catchcry long ago adopted by those with something to sell in the mining industry. Only the freakishly prescient were heard to utter the words from the empty lots overlooking the big river in Mozambique’s Moatize Basin. Location, location, location ... the voices are getting louder.
Building from the ground up
July 7 - 13, 2010
AN EXPERIENCED geologist has added to cautionary advice on the likely speed of development in the Moatize Basin, and questioned comparisons with Australia’s Bowen Basin. “About the only similarity is that the coal measures are of Permian age,” he says.
Stability reigns for now
June 30 - July 6, 2010
GIVEN its proximity to Zimbabwe and South Africa, and even Zambia and Tanzania, with their varying political, sovereign and expropriation risk profiles, Mozambique might still be viewed with some trepidation by investors. However, investment risk experts say Botswana is its more apposite regional counterpart at this stage.
Magnate’s Mozambique vision
June 23 - 29, 2010
AUSTRALIAN coal baron Ken Talbot was a big believer in the development potential of Africa’s resources – iron ore in West Africa, and coking coal in Mozambique. The latter he named as the world’s premier emerging coking coal producing jurisdiction in the last media interview he gave before his death on the weekend.
Riversdale on rising coke tide
June 23 - 29, 2010
CHINA Inc has arrived, as Australian coal industry doyen Ken Talbot said it would.
Canning coal the real deal, says Rey
June 16 - 22, 2010
REY Resources managing director Kevin Wilson concedes there is some east coast scepticism about a new coalfield in Western Australia, but he remains supremely confident the company has an initial thermal coal mining development in sight and a multi-operation basin on the horizon.
Coal from the warthog’s watering hole
June 2 - 8, 2010
IT IS relatively simple to start a coal mine in South Africa, according to new miner Continental Coal, but the trick will be growing the business into a “mid-tier” thermal coal play producing around five million tonnes a year for both export and domestic markets.
Kangaroo leaps into coal contract
May 5 - 11, 2010
INDONESIAN coal producer Kangaroo Resources has secured an initial offtake deal for thermal coal from its mines in Kalimantan, paving the way for potential expansion and investment from offtake partners.
Leaping into Indonesian coal
January 26 - February 1, 2010
THERE are plenty of “banana-skins” waiting to trip up mining hopefuls in Indonesia but Kangaroo Resources’ approach has already sidestepped several potential problems, with the company moving from an empty shell to coal producer in just seven months.
Moatize ‘starting to become a real coal basin’
October 26 - November 1, 2009
DEVELOPMENT of new tier-one coal projects in Mozambique’s Moatize Basin will accelerate changes occurring in world seaborne coking coal trade, traditionally dominated by Australia, according to Steve Mallyon, managing director of Riversdale Mining. Ironically Riversdale is one of the companies local investors are hoping will fly the flag for Australian-based mid-tier coal stocks in future.
Pike River limping, not running
October 26 - November 1, 2009
WHAT looks like a high-cost, problematic mine from afar didn’t get any prettier up close for Craigs Investment Partners, despite its spectacularly scenic setting. However, the New Zealand investment firm does see some “light at the end of the tunnel” for Pike River Coal.
The big one, for the believers
October 5 - 11, 2009
THE SURPRISE announcement of funding for additional rail infrastructure to serve Mozambique’s Moatize coal basin is music to the ears of leading figures at Riversdale Mining, who’ve drawn inspiration from Zambia, Namibia, Australia and South America in devising a blueprint for one of the world’s most important new coking coal projects.
Touching the void
September 28 - October 4, 2009
WHILE the whole fossil fuel business might be going the way of the Dodo if governments get serious about giving coal and oil companies the cold shoulder, Citi in its recent review of the Australian coal sector was more concerned about independent local producers “heading the way of the Tasmanian Tiger”. Northern Energy Corporation (NEC) is one newcomer that didn’t show up on Citi’s register.
Market opening up for SouthGobi
July 6 - 12, 2009
SOUTHGOBI Energy Resources is pushing ahead with the production ramp-up at its southern Mongolian coal operations as it tries to secure further sales contracts across the border. It’s ‘show us the money’ time, according to president Alexander Molyneux.
SouthGobi hopes to bust bottleneck
May 11 - 17, 2009
IVANHOE Mines unit SouthGobi Energy is hoping increased opening hours at the Mongolia-China border crossing handling its coal exports from southern Mongolia will allow it to boost output this year. But it was still managing to make money selling thermal coal at $US29/tonne before a temporary shutdown of its Ovoot Tolgoi mine in the March quarter.
Indonesia start for Ivanhoe unit
April 6 - 12, 2009
MARCH 30: IVANHOE Mines coal unit SouthGobi Energy Resources, establishing its production credentials in southern Mongolia, has its sights on a second operating mine this year.
Analyst accepts bear facts
December 8 - 14, 2008
DEC1: TWO weeks ago veteran Australian coal analyst Dr Don Barnett nearly choked on his cornflakes when he saw Macquarie Bank had chopped its coking coal price forecast for 2009 by close to 60%. With Merrill Lynch having now added its name to the doomsayers list Barnett concedes his reaction to the Macquarie “overreaction” may have been a bit hasty.
Ready to fire
September 1 - 7, 2008
MARTIN Ferguson has seen the future. Crude oil production is struggling to keep pace with demand growth in the developing world at a time of growing geopolitical instability and resource nationalism. The National Clean Coal Initiative is an important government response to energy security and the key climate objective to develop low emission technologies. It also marks the beginning of a renaissance for coal.
Vietnam to disappear from trade picture: UBS
August 11 - 17, 2008
THE short term disruption to thermal coal supplies from Vietnam is expected to become a longer term constant in regional coal trade, increasing pressure on China’s power generation sector to find alternative supply sources, according to investment bank UBS.
