The 74th Sydney Mining Club Meeting

With a new season of financial supporters

May 6th at 12:30 pm

Presents:

A Coalbed Methane Double Header

CH4's Lou Rozman and Sydney Gas' Dr Bruce Butcher

Coal Bed Methane Hits the Investment Mainstream

Download Presentation 'Let's do Lunch' [2.24Mb]

Ken Talbot has always had an eye on profitability. Even before the current spike in coal prices, he spent every development dollar in Macarthur Coal as if it was his own (quite unsurprising when you consider that around every second dollar in Macarthur Coal is his own – he is the major shareholder). A mining engineer who first worked in coal at the Coalcliff coal mine in NSW for KCC, Talbot’s journey in coal has redefined what it means to run a ‘lean operation’.

First with the flagship Coppabella mine south of Mackay, he designed operations operated around tight and low cost arrangements with contractors and kept overheads to an absolute minimum. The site offices are still dongas. Macarthur Coal was making money in the hard times and people were taking note – particularly

the big operations which, despite their economies of scale, couldn’t. An impressive land position up and down the Bowen Basin was assembled and expansion plans were drawn up. The second mine Moorvale is now at an advanced stage of development. The half owned Monto project near Gladstone will be next. In the coal market, he positioned Macarthur as a leader in the supply of PCI coal and things were going well. The recent spike in coal demand led to a 50% hike in the shareprice since November boosting the market cap over $230m. Macarthur Coal’s March rights issue has harnessed market sentiments to accelerate growth. Macarthur’s is a fascinating tale of coal growth done right. Don’t miss it!