Opponents of Santos CSG plans vow to fight on if $2B venture approved

Opponents of Santos’s Narrabri Gas project have vowed to continue protesting against the planned $2 billion coal-seam gas field even if the government gives approval as expected for the 850-well operation, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The state’s Planning Assessment Commission held its first public meeting in Narrabri on Thursday to gauge local input on plans by Santos to drill exploration wells at the Bibblewindi and Dewhurst sites. The company is expected to lodge its environmental impact statement for the full project within weeks.

Forrest’s $70M show of confidence in FMG

Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest has spent $70 million of his own money buying shares in the company over the past nine months as part of a one-man mission to boost confidence in the stock amid wilting iron ore prices, according to The Australian.

He snapped up another 1.75 million shares in the miner on Monday and Tuesday this week, paying $6.96m at an average price of $3.97.

Iron ore price fall hits minnows

Financial stress on Australia’s higher-cost iron ore producers from the collapse in prices for the key steelmaking raw material is beginning to have a telling impact, with the operator of the Cairn Hill operation in South Australia’s outback being placed in to voluntary administration, according to The Australian.

Iron ore — Australia’s biggest export earner — has sunk 33%, or $US44.70 a tonne, below last year’s average due to mounting supply from Australia and elsewhere hitting the seaborne market at a time of slowing Chinese demand.

Should iron ore’s current price of $US90.30 a tonne become the norm for the year, Australia’s producers will be dealt a collective $US30 billion ($A32.5 billion) revenue hit. Higher-cost producers like Cairn Hill are buckling under the pressure.