Clive Palmer quits Mineralogy board
Clive Palmer has quietly quit as a director of his flagship company Mineralogy and two other major entities amid a forensic financial investigation by China’s international investment company into which more than $12 million of its funds went in the weeks before the federal election, according to The Australian.
Legal experts said Palmer’s resignation from the most important company in his corporate network might not distance him from any fallout from his escalating dispute with his Chinese business partner, Citic Pacific, which accused the resources tycoon in court documents of wrongfully spending the money.
Why ore giants dig deeper as prices slide
Australia’s big iron ore miners are unfazed by the price crash for the commodity, caused in part by their production ramp-ups, because it is likely to force higher-cost producers out of the market and strengthen their position in the global market, according to the Australian Financial Review.
The value of the nation’s number one export continued to surge into the June quarter despite a dismal run for the price of the commodity, as the nation’s big three iron ore miners pumped up volumes.
After helping to accelerate Australia’s annual economic growth to 3.5% in the March quarter, the value of iron ore exports jumped further in April to the second-highest level on record – $6.9 billion, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures published yesterday.
The value of Australia’s iron ore exports has risen 24% over the past year, even though the iron ore spot price has lost about 30% this year to sit around $US94 a tonne.
LNG confidence is misplaced
Buried in the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Investment Outlook this week were some sobering words for Australia’s LNG sector, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Despite bullish appraisals over recent weeks from Woodside, Santos and Origin Energy of the prospects for Australian LNG, the IEA described the LNG expansion opportunity as “gradual, rather than radical” given the costs.
“High cost for liquefaction and cost inflation can easily move projects out of the zone where they deliver returns to investors as well as LNG that meets their buyers’ needs,” it cautioned.
