AME Mineral Economics reported in its May "Outlook" publication that ownership changes at the Springvale mine in the Western Coalfield of NSW appear set to continue.

AME said Glencore and Centennial seemed to have an arrangement whereby Glencore was to sell its recently acquired share of Springvale to Centennial. Glencore has publicly said it has little interest in Springvale which primarily services the domestic utility market.

"Centennial remains tight-lipped about the existence of such a deal but their reluctance to release details of the shareholdings of the partners in the consortium that have bid for Samsung’s 50% of Springvale indicates something is going on," AME said.

Glencore bought Phelps Dodge’s 50% share in the Australian operations in March this year. Then on March 23 Centennial announced a consortium led by the company had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Samsung Corporation, nominating the Centennial Consortium as the exclusive "Preferred Bidder" to acquire Samsung Development (Aust) which owns the other 50% interest in the Springvale Colliery.