Miners cheered by bullish outlook for coking coal prices

Coking coal is emerging as a bright spot for miners still reeling from price crunches in iron ore and thermal coal, according to The Australian.

Like iron ore and thermal coal, prices for coking coal – Australia’s second-biggest mineral export earner – have been hard hit this year, falling by 24% to $US113.50 a tonne on a spot basis.

But the call has gone out that prices have bottomed and are set to bounce back to between $US130 and $US150 a tonne in the near term, and $US170 a tonne in the longer term.

Iron ore project investment still on track

Rail haulage giant Aurizon has won more time to come up with a viable infrastructure plan for the greenfield $7.4 billion West Pilbara iron ore project, as the project’s owners insist the falling iron ore price will not kill off the project, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Aurizon took control of the West Pilbara iron ore project by teaming up with Chinese steel giant Baosteel in a $1.42 billion takeover of the project’s majority shareholder, Aquila Resources.

Glencore announces surprise debt debut

The Australian arm of multinational mining giant Glencore surprised investors on Thursday by announcing a debut deal to tap the local debt capital market for about half a billion dollars. Pricing has begun, with the offer due to close within 48 hours on Friday, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Glencore Australia Holdings announced its inaugural five-year benchmark issue with initial pricing guidance of about 140 basis points over the five-year swap rate, or about 4.85%.

The notes are expected to be rated Baa2 by Moody’s and BBB by Standard & Poor’s.