polish coal hope

Robin Bromby
From: The Australian
April 08, 2013 12:00AM


Polish coal hope

NORTH America may be going through a natural gas revolution, but in Europe it's still cheaper to use coal for power generation. New thermal power stations are still being built, but mine production within the European Union is falling.

Poland and Germany are by far the largest suppliers of such coal, with the Czech Republic and Bulgaria in the second tier. The problem is that all four producers have seen output diminishing. In 1990, the EU mined more than 1.1 billion tonnes a year, but this has now fallen below 600 million tonnes, and more closures loom in the Ruhr basin and Upper Silesia.

By 2020, EU imports will have risen from 130 million tonnes a year now to 180 million. But Asian markets will compete increasingly for South African and Russian coal, much of which now goes to Europe. Anyhow, that's the story being promoted by Prairie Downs Metals (PDZ) which has the Lublin coal project in Poland and plugged as Europe's next strategic source of thermal coal. It was a strong enough story to pull in $6m last week from a placement of shares to institutions.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/optimism-over-iron-ore-fading-fast-amid-predictions-of-a-surplus/story-fnciihm9-1226614440078