Glencore chokes on coking coal

Glencore Xstrata has started cutting back coking coal production in Australia and will focus more on its thermal coal mines, in a sign the rush to increase exports is starting to sort the wheat from the chaff in the Australian coking coal industry.

A collapse in coking coal prices has been exacerbated in recent times by a flood of new production in Queensland, where the likes of BHP Billiton, Anglo American and even Wesfarmers have been increasing exports of the steel ingredient.

The tough environment has prompted Glencore to cut back its coking coal operations in favour of focusing on its thermal coal operations in New South Wales.

BHP’s Queensland housing portfolio on the block

BHP Billiton’s bankers, Goldman Sachs, are loosely testing buyer appetite for the miner’s accommodation portfolio in Queensland, according to the Australian Financial Review.

It is not a formal mandate but BHP is understood to be open to getting the assets – worth up to $500 million – off its balance sheet.

The Big Australian could then lease the housing back and rid itself of another suite of non-core assets.

It is an approach that fits with the company’s mission to achieve greater shareholder returns.

Property and infrastructure investors are understood to have been sounded out in recent times by Goldman Sachs on the portfolio.

BHP declined to comment.

Fortescue chief shrugs off 23% share price fall

Fortescue Metals CEO Nev Power has shrugged off a 23% fall in the miner's share price since late February and dismissed fears of further falls in spot iron ore, saying he was “not at all concerned”, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Investors rushed to sell off iron ore miners on the local bourse on Wednesday amid fears of a further fall in the iron ore price, which is hovering at about $US106 a tonne.

Fortescue shares fell 3.5% on Wednesday to close at $4.63.

The iron ore spot price has slumped 10% in the past three weeks and about 20% since the start of the year.