News

March 11, 2009

Atlas Iron Makes Friends And Influences Its Share Price

By Our Man in Oz

If you can tell the character of a man by the company he keeps then Minesite’s Man in Oz reckons it’s just as easy to tell the character of a company by its ability to make friends. If that sounds somewhat obtuse take a look at how Atlas Iron has outperformed a flotilla of emerging Australian iron ore miners through a series of “relationships” which, it can be argued, are more important than the ore in the ground. Over the past two years Atlas has been able to negotiate port access in Port Hedland, and become the first of the new generation of iron ore companies in the Pilbara region to ship ore to overseas customers, strike a deal which theoretically gives it access to the port facilities of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), and most recently, negotiate a “sharing agreement” with the owners of a mothballed tantalum treatment facility which should see it quickly start a second iron ore mine.

It’s those deals, plus an A$80 million pile of cash in the bank, which set Atlas apart as a company which will manage its way through the global economic downturn and emerge as a substantial iron ore miner. The latest deal is, arguably, the best so far and an example of how Atlas chief executive, David Flanagan, has been able to turn one-time negatives into positives. Early last year, when Minesite Man in Oz was touring the Pilbara with Flanagan, we flew very carefully in a small helicopter...