Messrs Duncan and Flannery were on the Australia's mining rich...

Messrs Duncan and Flannery were on the Australia's mining rich list during 2008/2010. This was very well earn't as Auiron Energy/ Felix Resources rose from an equivalent low of 35c to reach $23.20 and were later taken over by Yanzhou Coal for $18.05 excluding South Australian Coal SAC that was hived off to shareholders. The reason being that a foreign company is not allowed to own the South Australian tenement Phillipson as it has a security flying zone. Those were the days when King Coal reigned and Felix were once referred to by MD Flannery as like an Aussie Bank, so much cash rolled in.

Somehow near everything went wrong for WEC and the Midas touch of the Felix days just wasn't there. Still, the Mountainside assets remain up for sale with 51% ownership by WEC and 49% by River Energy of South Africa. At least the Aussie has weakened and the Trump factor has arrived on scene.

My own holding came through the takeover of SAC and was a free ride. Unfortunately I added more in the rights issue at $2.50. Well averaged down now of course.

How much is the BCB technology worth is an unanswered question. It does seem to need the right type of coal as the failing at Mountainside proved with Blue Gem Coal. It seemed the Tabang coal was more ideal though PT Bayan proved to be dig-it-out-and-sell-it coal miners as Duncan and Flannery once were. Probably still are.

As mentioned here in an earlier post, China's Yanzhou Coal, that took over Felix Resources, are well known to WEC's present management. MD Flannery having worked for a year with Yanzhou after the takeover of Felix.

So if there is interest from Yanzhou that would be a friendly approach even though from China. Maybe Yanzhou might tie-in with PT Bayan of Indonesia with suitable supplies of coal from Tabang for the BCB process. WEC would have all the test results from Indonesia making the process much easier.

This is going to be an even longer game ahead. Mountainside in USA, coal fines in South Africa and South Australia's Phillipson tenement are matters which Yanzhou and PT Bayan would be unlikely to have an interest in. Once the Tabang matter is resolved in Singapore's court it will be interesting to see if WEC payout some cash to shareholders. Chairman Duncan isn't many years off 90 now and surely will want to cash in his chips? MD Flannery may also be looking for a Chairman's job in the near future.