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FIRST there was the “New Force in Iron Ore”. Then came the “New Energy in Coal” – a not-too-subtle attempt by Waratah Coal to trumpet a Fortescue Metals like vision for a ‘next generation’ thermal coal project on Australia’s east coast. But events of the past week have shown the latter may be no match for the powerful new force in Australian politics.
Quote of the Week“We are mildly amused by talk of 'surprising strength' in the copper price. With trivial stockpiles (~3.7 days of global consumption in exchange inventories, according to Cochilco), and continuing supply interruptions, there is no surprise that copper prices remain elevated even in the face of demand fears.” - Credit Suisse
EDDIE Rigg has been having trouble explaining the Nile is a river in Egypt, but chances are the “denial” he claims some resource companies are under about the changed circumstances the sector now finds itself in will diminish given the market slaughter of the past week.
FINDING reasons to invest in gold stocks has lately become about as difficult as uh … finding gold itself, with the price of the precious metal little to get excited about (and equities even less so) despite almost everything bar a nuclear war happening in the world in recent times.
ENTERPRISE values in a “simplistic analysis” of more than a dozen Australian listed copper companies show the market values identified copper resources at a tiny fraction of the copper price.
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.
AS a former lawyer and member for Kalgoorlie and now a registered lobbyist, Megan Anwyl knows a thing or two about political and government agendas.
COMPANIES contemplating M&A transactions might note a few salient points from the sad case of Perilya Mines.
ANALYSTS in small broking houses owe a great debt to analysts in large broking houses or banks – for doing much of our work for us.
MOST of us would have at some point in the past couple of weeks sat back and had a good chuckle about the story of Tom Biscardi, the professional Bigfoot hunter who made international headlines when he claimed to have come into possession of a real sasquatch carcass. Naturally, it turned out to be a fake. But very few of us who have invested in mining stocks would not have had a Biscardi moment at some stage.
WHILE every man and his dog active in West Africa invariably makes claims about the huge potential of their respective gold exploration projects, the affable young Kiwi running Gryphon Minerals, Steve Parsons, has a head start when it comes to justifying the rhetoric.
ESTIMATING “cost support” levels for base metals would seem a logical assessment to make given the cacophony of background noise, mostly bearish in tone, currently in the markets.
THE core messages delivered by BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers with the resource giant’s record 2008 fiscal-year profit echoed those conveyed by former Canadian high ambassador to China and now Beijing-based investment banker and advisor, Howard Balloch, on his recent return to Australia after a four year absence.
SELLING shares in your own company has always been a tricky business for directors, and the sale by the incoming CEO of Boart Longyear of half his stake hasn’t impressed the Goldman Sachs JBWere analyst team.
