Thanks for that AFR article on NWH - could not access it when I...

Thanks for that AFR article on NWH - could not access it when I tried a few days ago.

The comment on NRW having held onto project managers during the slump suggests to me that a few other categories of employees were probably held onto too. This means that the employee costs may not need to expand in step with increased revenue.

I had hopped that somebody like Pbawley would have reacted to my crude forecast metrics for NWH in FY19, FY20 and FY21. My 10% uplift of Revenue is probably much too timid, and the 7.5% NPAT margin was chosen without anything to support that percentage.

On Indigenous JVs, that was one of BYL's strong points, but the company fell apart due to poor pricing that did not allow BYL to make a profit on large projects. With BYL gone, NWH probably has the best set of Indigenous JVs in the Pilbara, and that could be an important non-price contract-securing factor, which has triggered me to check up on FMG's Iron Bridge project, because NWH has a JV in place for that project - that is, the Njamal ICRG Joint Venture (see https://nrw.com.au/project/north-star-bulk-earthworks/.

I have always been wary of magnetite projects, while at the same time I have been certain that magnetite would become a viable source of high-grade beneficiated  iron ore in future, because beneficiating technology would improve, and because the Chinese steel mills are designed to use that type of ore, and current Chinese anti-pollution measures favour high-grade ore. Also, the easy-to-mine sources of high-grade direct-ship ores are becoming difficult to replace. Having ore graded at 65% Fe, or higher, would be a significant factor for FMG, which tends to have lower grade ore than its three larger rivals.

The latest that I have read on iron Bridge is dated 28/11/2018 - see https://thewest.com.au/business/min...idge-magnetite-to-the-new-year-ng-b881034996z. If you cannot make this link work, Google it with the words Fortescue "iron bridge" 2018