Yancoal locks in $US250m debt funding from parent
Yancoal Australia has secured $US250 million of long-term debt funding from its Chinese parent company Yanzhou Coal Mining, eliminating the risk of a possible equity raising and helping repay existing loans and fund capital expenditure, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The unsecured loan has a term of 5.5 years and will be repaid in full once it matures, Yancoal said on Friday. The funds will repay $US100 million of existing debt, fund working capital and expenditure, Yancoal said, without giving any details of spending plans.
Abbott urges BHP to revisit Olympic Dam expansion
Prime Minister Tony Abbott believes BHP Billiton could soon reverse its decision to shelve the Olympic Dam expansion, a move he said would significantly alleviate the impact on South Australia of the departure of General Motors Holden, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Abbott, who will reveal on Monday details of his government’s initial response to the General Motors Holden crisis, said that the assistance packages being prepared for South Australia and Victoria would be similar to those provided by the government to help Tasmania out of its economic slump.
“What’s under consideration is a very orthodox response,” he said.
Mining construction jobs to plunge by 78,000, study finds
The resources industry construction workforce is set to collapse over the next four years, plunging 91% and shedding more than 78,000 jobs by 2018, dwarfing the Holden closure job losses, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
From a peak of 85,819 positions this year, the construction element of the resources boom is expected to dive to just 7700 in 2018, according to the 2013 resources skills study released on Monday by the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency.
The surge of construction workers returning to the broader economy comes at a time when non-resources construction is at a low ebb, with the Reserve Bank saying public works’ share of the economy is at its lowest point in at least half a century.
