FINANCE
Hip pocket hit
EXECUTIVE wallets are set to increasingly reflect the pain felt by shareholders, with waning salaries a clear recognition raising equity could prove a very difficult proposition for quite some time to come.
Quote of the Week"Unlike John Cleese's parrot the market is not dead ... but it isn't well." - Andrew Lumsden, corporate advisor, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Magic numbers
DIRECTORS at United Minerals Corp (UMC) argue that high quality iron ore is in short supply and that as such the Railway deposit in the Pilbara iron ore heartland of Western Australia will be coveted by one of the majors. However, the disparity between the company’s stunning numbers and UMC’s decimated capitalisation is truly something to behold.
Moly looks for true believer ... with lots of cash
IF INDIA, China and others with a fundamental “long-term” need for the rest of the world’s minerals want to see a new wave of projects emerge they are not sending the rights signals to panicky western banks and other potential backers of new mines, according to Moly Mines managing director Derek Fisher.
Ferrochrome cutbacks to protect prices
MAJOR ferrochrome producers are scaling back operations dramatically to protect against a weakening stainless steel market and growing stockpiles in China, which are threatening to collapse the ferrochrome price.
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Uranium execs to hit the ground running
NEW executive appointments starting this week at uranium companies Paladin Energy and Bannerman Resources look perfect matches, while market interest in the sector gently bubbles away including a recent transaction that values uranium resources in the ground at about $US8 per pound.
Intellection receiver appointed
NOV 12, 2008: ONE of Australia’s best emerging mining technology exporters, Brisbane-based Intellection, has had a receiver appointed by its banker after its forward order pipeline dried up almost overnight. The small but dramatic collapse highlights the truly precipitous fall in mining sector fortunes in a matter of weeks.
'V' is for veracity
THERE will be no V-shaped recovery in metal prices according to one of the bigger bulls in the resource sector – but the super cycle thesis remains intact – while another of the experts suggests that longer term, ensuring bank financings in China are unencumbered will be critical if growth is to be sustained.
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The bubble has burst: long live the super cycle
COPPER is often used as a leading indicator for broader commodity price growth and world economic health. It may currently reflect the faint pulse of world financial markets, but copper producers – and miners generally – should take heart from post-trauma charts.
Vital steps ahead
BEING around when “shellshocked investors and brokers” recover their wits is the new aim in life of small companies such as tungsten explorer Vital Metals, though the truism that good projects do succeed but not necessarily in the hands of those who found them is certain to resonate in the years ahead.
Small suppliers feel the pinch
NOV 10, 2008: RAPID growth for many small to medium size mining technology and service (MTS) enterprises in Australia is expected to come to a halt next year. However, the recent boom has positioned a number of them to compete more strongly in the global market and the mining industry’s increased dependence on technology will also be a boon.
VIEW FROM THE WEST END
Not fun
NEGOTIATION is from the Latin words, neg (not), and otium (ease or leisure). The inference being, presumably, that negotiation was not meant to be fun. Rather obvious I guess, but probably more so to anyone involved in metal price negotiations.
FINANCE
Funny guys
CAREFUL you don’t mistake the comedian that goes by the name Cosby (as in Bill) and near-namesake Crosby, the Hong Kong merchant bank, despite them both being good for a laugh now and then.
FINANCE
All good things come to an end
THE global head of Atlas Copco’s mining and construction equipment arm has his regional business leaders battening down the hatches for a “severe downturn” but says it is still too difficult to see what is going to happen in the market beyond the middle of 2009.
ReGENERATION
Accounting for the times
NOV 10, 2008: YOU’D expect the accountant son of a high profile former stockbroker with generations of mining and prospecting in his blood to have a good eye for opportunities. And the funding support for the company he heads earlier this year from a well-known and well-connected executive gives credence to such an expectation.
FINANCE
Hellyer plant the key to a new life
GENERAL market carnage aside, the cards have started falling rather nicely for Bass Metals of late, and acquiring the Hellyer plant now on the market would be a company-changing event.
HEAVY METAL
Draglines resurfacing
BUCYRUS International has secured the first of what president and CEO Tim Sullivan hinted last month could become a clutch of new orders for draglines, with the company this year putting out a forecast that it expects to be manufacturing 3-5 of the $US150-200 million units a year.
