All Posts Tagged With: "coal"

A whole sector of the commodities complex that’s in a long-term bull market isn’t measured by the RBA’s commodity prices index. Do you realise what this means?

It’s the same story, different day (SSDD). That is, nothing much has been revealed overnight to cause us to change our view that you’re investing in the midst of a long-term depression. Most of the positive GDP data coming out globally is backward looking. It doesn’t tell you much about the future. It is worth noting that a story in yesterday’s Financial Review showed that prices for coking coal have followed iron ore and coal prices down.

And so begins yet another day where we have no idea what the world will bring us. But let’s have a crack anyway. At the top of the list of today’s thoughts is whether a contraction in global credit means there will be fewer good investment opportunities. Without an ocean of credit to float on, good businesses will have to sink or swim on their own merits. But first, here is something that looks like it might be good news for the trader types.

That brings us to the merger and acquisition activity in Australia. You may have seen that gold producer Lihir received a $9.2 billion takeover offer from Newcrest over night. Lihir says the offer undervalues the company’s assets. But whether it does or doesn’t, does the bid remind you at all of the BHP and Rio Tinto shenanigans a few years ago?

Oil did move up overnight in the futures market to US$71.94. And locally, there was more positive news for energy and energy stocks. Bloomberg reports that, “LNG sales from Australia’s biggest resources project may reach A$300 billion over its first 20 years.”

That said, coal stocks stand to lose the most from cap-and-trade or emissions trading schemes that put a price on carbon dioxide. Even so, there ARE plenty of unconventional hydrocarbons out there that can provide transportation fuel or gas streams for turbines to generate electricity.

It may seem like a strange time to be talking up the resources sector, but while everyone else is running away I’m nipping in through a side door to get onboard one specific area of the resources industry. I’m talking about energy. But it’s not oil that’s grabbed my attention. It’s something much more exciting and potentially much more profitable than that. So profitable in fact, that it could soon be Australia’s single largest export industry…

Altona Resources Plc (LON: ANR), listed on London’s small cap market, has signed what it calls an ‘in-principle agreement’ with CNOOC Energy Investment Co Ltd to cooperate in the development of a project Altona has in the Ackaringa Basin of SA. It’s an ambitious project too. The project includes a 10 million barrel per year (30kbpd) open cut mine and a 560 megawatt power plant.