Yancoal reveals pain of ‘take or pay’ coal deals

Another Australian coalminer has revealed it is suffering under its “take or pay” rail and port contracts.

Yancoal Australia has become the latest to concede it took on far more rail capacity in the boom times than it needs today, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The company’s admission comes after recent revelations that numerous Australian coalmines were operating at a loss because fixed-rail and port contracts would impose much greater losses on the owners if the mines were closed.

The industry-wide trend is exacerbating the malaise in the coal sector, which is struggling under high costs and depressed prices for both thermal coal and coking coal.

According to ASX-listed Yancoal’s freshly published annual report, the Chinese-controlled coalminer had a $61.5 million liability for its take-or-pay contracts at December 31 2013.

Mining vacancies drop 20%

The number of job vacancies in the resources sector has fallen more than 20% over the past nine months, according to The Australian.

BHP, Rio join campaign against OECD limits on profit-shifting

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have joined global technology firms in lobbying against efforts to stop major multinational corporations from shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

In submissions to an OECD draft paper, the mining companies said measures to prevent firms from abusing tax treaties would create “unintended consequences” for dual-listed entities such as themselves.

Multinational firms including big pharmaceutical and global technology firms have made submissions rejecting proposals in the discussion draft.

The draft identifies ways to stop companies from “treaty shopping” for the best places to hide untaxed profits.