Sol Patts has always been conservative but most players in deep...

Sol Patts has always been conservative but most players in deep cycle resources get themselves into trouble borrowing money in the down cycle. Before you offer up RIO and BHP - They have diversified portfolios - If you dont you can get into trouble easily all you need is an irrational market for a period of time where you have to produce to generate cash flow to settle interest and repayments. I certainly have no idea how low this resources rout can go so I certainly ( who consider myself more debt friendly than they are) would be very uncomfortable taking on debt when you are aware of the drops and the pent up social challenges to coal.

Remember the fake press release used against Whitehaven coal.

I would not want to be invested if they would be in a debt situation that had more than a $50 to $100 million. That wont get the Acland mine going as far as I can see from their presentations - although I sometimes think they overstate the costs so that the state government gets excited about the project and gets the approval done.