Ann: Agreement to move to 100% ownership of the Ashford Project, page-5

@FinancialReview Oct 12 2016 at 9:07 AM
Coal price doubling in three months could deliver $25b economic boost

"The mining industry has reached an agreement with Japanese steel makers that prices for most Australian coking coal will jump 117 per cent in just three months, an increase that means that the benefit of rising prices could be felt across the economy.

The agreement means most Australian coking coal will be sold for $US200 per tonne over the next three months, compared with $US81 per tonne in the March quarter.

The boom in coal prices could add 2 per cent to national income this year, boost federal budget revenues by close to $7 billion and start wages growing again, some economists say.

Less than a year after the coal industry was accused of being in terminal decline, shuttered mines across Queensland and NSW have been reopened, including the Collinsville coal mine in Queensland owned by Glencore, which will create 200 jobs.

.......The spot price has surged even higher to $US213 per tonne in recent days and coal for power generation, which has long been the target of environmentalists, is up 60 per cent over the past four months.

.....An open-cut coal mine in Queensland shut down by Brazilian miner Vale two years ago is now thriving under a new owner, Stanmore Coal.

.....Coal industry veteran Barry Tudor said coking coal was a finite resource that would always be in demand, much to the benefit of Australia, which he said had the world's best-quality coking coal region in Queensland's Bowen Basin.

"When the price was at its lowest point, those who wrote it off were a bit premature ... The facts are there is strong demand, there is limited supply," he said. "We lead the world in seaborne coal from the Bowen Basin, so there is a lot of prosperity for Australia that comes out of that basin and it underpins an awful lot of economic benefit for Australia."