buy cdn now its at the start of a bull in china!

Cook Colliery Update

Good news. Caledon Resources says commercial production started at Cook coal mine
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - Caledon Resources PLC said commercial production has started at its Cook coal mine in Queensland, Australia.

Production from the mine is set to start at 50,000 tonnes of coal per month rising to 100,000 by the third quarter.

The AIM-listed company expects an annualised coal production rate of 1.5 mln tonnes being achieved in 2008.

'In less than 12 months, we have successfully negotiated the acquisition of the Cook Mine from Xstrata, completed detailed engineering studies, obtained financing, completed mine re-commissioning and commenced commercial production on budget,' said chairman Robert Alford.



newsdesk@afxnews.com

http://www.caledonresources.com/Website A picture of the first coal production.

CDN chart 50/200 ma, Looking very good for holders.

Im in - its taken some time!!!!!!!!!!! though

Up over 4% at the moment, I'll bet you have a smile on your face transco.

Well, it finished down on the day but Caledon Resources have a bright future, I'm looking forward to next few months. Regards goal.

Me too I had writen them off - the smile is wide goali!!!
You have some?

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Caledon Resources PLC said production at Cook coal mine in Queensland, Australia, is ramping up and it plans to increase coking and thermal coal production to 100,000 tonnes per month from 10,000 tonnes over the year.

The mining company expects an annual coal production rate of 1.5 million tonnes in 2008 at Cook Mine.

Caledon also said the coking coal market has tightened due to rail and port constraints in Australia, combined with increasing demand from India and China, and this is putting upward pressure on prices.

TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com

faj/lam



COPYRIGHT

Gone back into these today as a play on the World Coking Coal market which is forecast to rise and rise with the likes of China, India, Brazil and others eating up any excess supply.

One should note that CDN is now a pure coal play.

Heres a recent article on the company, well worth a read..

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/articles/article.php?CDN3

Good to see from last results aswell that it is now a producer and not just an explorer...

25 June 2007


Caledon Resources plc
('Caledon' or the 'Company')

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2006

Caledon Resources plc (AIM: CDN), today announces its preliminary results for
the year ended 31 December 2006.

2006 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Transition from explorer to producer, supported by a robust operating
asset base and strong management team with experienced coal executives and
operators.

On 14 December 2006 the Company acquired the Cook Coal Mine and adjacent
Minyango deposit located in Queensland, Australia. At the Cook mine, SRK
Engineering has estimated that there is at least 40 million tonnes ('mt') of
recoverable coking and thermal coal representing 17mt of reserve and 23mt of
resource. Production commenced in March 2007 and is anticipated to grow over
a period of three years to 1.8mt per annum.

An independent competent person's report on Cook Coal Mine indicates strong
expected life of mine economics: pre-tax Net Present Value of US$256 million
using a 10% discount rate; cash flows of US$30 to US$67 million; 10 year
coking/thermal coal reserve and 20 years of coal resource.

Exploration is well advanced at the Minyango coal project situated
immediately north of the Cook lease. The Company has completed 15 drill
holes, in addition to the 65 previously completed on the project, in a
programme designed to further define coal quality, coal seam continuity and
seam thickness of the deposit. On 14 March 2007 the Company announced the
completion of a resource estimate by SRK Engineering increasing the size of
the Minyango resource by 17% to 240mt (JORC) coking and thermal coal of
which 75mt is indicated and 165mt is inferred.

Eldorado warrants exercised and resulting shares sold generating proceeds
of 2.5 million before tax.

Caledon places 12.5 million unsecured convertible loan notes subject to
approval at an EGM to be held on 5 July 2007.

AND

If we look at the World Coking coal market we find this...

Coking coal market

Global Basic Oxygen Furnace steel production is reliant on coking coal. Coking
coal is used to produce coke, which is a key feedstock in the blast furnace
process required to smelt iron in the process of making steel products.
Approximately 0.6 tonnes of coke is required to make 1 tonne of steel.

According to the World Coal Institute, almost 66% of total global steel
production depends on inputs of coal. 592mt of coking coal and PCI coals are
used annually in global steel production. China accounted for most of the recent
increase in world steel production, with 2005 production increasing by 25%. The
USA, India and the rest of the world rank behind China in terms of world steel
production. Due to the current constraints in coking coal supply, steel
producers are seeking long term coking coal supply, with many choosing to
participate in financing actual coking coal production.

The continued growth of steel production in Asia has seen an increasing number
of Indian and Chinese investments in the Australian resource sector.
Additionally, CVRD of Brazil (the world's largest iron ore exporter) has
acquired coking coal interests in Australia. A comparative table of the major
coking coal exporters below demonstrates the strength of the Australian based
producers.

Leading coking coal exporters

Year Australia Canada USA China
2003 103.1 22.0 20.0 11.5
2004 111.4 21.5 24.5 5.7
2005 119.8 25.1 26.0 5.6

Japan is the largest and Korea the second largest importer of coking coal. Rapid
industrial growth in China has resulted in China actively decreasing coal
exports to feed internal consumption. As a result China is anticipated to become
a net importer of coking coal in 2007. India is also seeking to secure future
supplies of coking coal and Indian companies are actively seeking coking coal
assets in Australia to supply rapid steel production growth.

Approximately 50% of the world's sea-borne coking coal comes from the Bowen
Basin, where the Company's coal assets are situated. Over 30 major mining
operations, owned primarily by major multi-national resource producers such as
BHP-Billiton, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Anglo, are currently active within the
basins. Over 100mt of coking coal was exported from the Bowen Basin in 2005-06.

AND

Market Price looks stable or even better....

Coking coal price

Contract prices for coking coal are generally negotiated in the first quarter of
each year and are fixed for the April to March 12 month period. Japan is the
largest importing country and the contract duration coincides with their
financial year. Settlements in Japan are also the reference point for
negotiations between coal producers and customers in other countries.

Current outlook

For the contract year beginning in April 2007, coking coal prices fell by
approximately US$20/t (to the mid US$90's) for the premium brands and often more
than that for the lower quality coals. However, as 2007 has progressed, the
market has tightened due to rail and port constraints in Australia (and to a
lesser extent in Canada), combined with increasing demand from India and China.
This is putting upward pressure on prices as customers compete for the limited
volume of coal that is not already committed to customers under annual
contracts. While it is more than six months away from the annual negotiating
season, many analysts are now forecasting a significant recovery in 2008
contract prices.ENDS

I reckon theres plenty of upside in this one (and other coal producers)and as production ramps up I expect to see a re rating of the stock.

- Market Cap 57.5m

- Shares In Issue 154.36m

- Beta 0.94

- Price To Book 1.7

- SP 37.25p

- Covering Analyst Canaccord Adams

- Web Site http://www.caledonresources.com/WebForms/Home.aspx

DYOR.

Joined you guys in this one. Looks like it as a bright future and plenty of interest at the moment.

Trades today are all positive.

This is a development being carefully watched by the rest of the industry in Australia. Although the individual components of the system have been well proven over the last 10-15 years, Cook is the first coal mine to use this new combination of continuous mining and continuous haulage devised by Magatar Mining. The mine will thus be a true test case for the technology, and if it does what it says on the tin, and other miners make the decision to invest in the kit, Caledon stand to benefit in more ways than one. Not only will they reap the benefit of their own improved coal production, but as the holders of a royalty arrangement on the Magatar licence for Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, they will accrue income on any sales of the Magatar linear mining technology made in those areas

Pretty heavy volume but only a small spike up today.

sorry wrong thread.

Positivley out of the blocks this morning.

Gets a good write up in this Broker note. Check the last few pages.

http://www.minesite.com/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Brokers_Reports_5/juniorminingpaydirt290607.pdf

Thanks gf.

Good write up across the road on the AGM.

Lifted from the TMF board...





EGM 5 July 2007

Location Lacon House, central London (head office of CDN's lawyers Nabarros)
Logistics no problems gaining entry
Attendees 3 private investors, several advisers, the CDN Board minus Mark Trevan and Paul Ingram, both executive directors
Food & drink wonderful petit biscuits & water
Odds on getting a chance to speak to someone of the opposite sex fair, the three smiling receptionists, who were more than happy to discuss Nabarro's new logo, plus a female lawyer was present.

Background

Domiciled in the UK since 2003, the company [CDN] was formed for the purposes of exploring precious metals in China.

However 2006 marked an exciting year when the company transformed from gold explorer to coal producer following the acquisition of the Cook Colliery and related mining operations in Australia, from Xstrata Coal Pty Ltd.

Since then the Company has acquired the adjacent Minyango project, an area situated in a region of strategic importance within the Bowen Basin, surrounded by some of Queensland's premier coking and thermal coal mining operations.

The Company is now primarily focused on mining coking coal in Queensland.

http://www.caledonresources.com/WebForms/Home.aspx

The C-word

I have only been a shareholder in CDN for three months, I have little interest, correction no interest, in the fun and games experienced by CDN in China. It is fair to say that China remains at the forefront of several private investors, as evidenced by the Caledon thread on ADVFN, and as evidenced by comments after the meeting see below.

A few facts

The Cook Coal Mine:

- Is estimated to contain 40mt of recoverable coking and thermal coal representing 17mt of reserve and 23mt of resource.
- Is expected to produce 1.8Mt of coking and thermal coal by 2009.

The Minjango exploration project is estimated to contain at least 240mt of coal (JORC) of which 75mt is indicated and 165mt is inferred.

Cook Mine was acquired from Xstrata in June 2006.

Question - so why did Xstrata sell Cook Mine to CDN?

Answer Xstrata is mining 30mt per annum of coal in Queensland, Cook Mine, producing less than 500k of coal per annum fell off the 'radar screen'. Plus it is a 'tired old lady' that suffers from gas.

Peter the extroverted engineer

One never knows what to expect at AGMs, the same sentiment applies with regard to EGMs. EGMs can last less than five minutes. Yesterday's CDN EGM lasted less than five minutes, but afterwards Peter Seear gave a very upbeat and impressive presentation.

Peter's CV:

- 54 years old.
- Actively engaged in the coal mining industry since 1977.
- Qualified as a chartered engineer in 1983.
- PMD degree from Harvard School of Mining.
- COO at CDN, appointed in 2006.

Bottom line - Peter is extremely enthusiastic about the Cook Mine project.

Further good news he is giving the same presentation to institutions in the City over the next couple of days.

Key points from the presentation

Cook Mine is in the 15th week of production.

Coal is currently being produced by the use of continuous bolter/miners (two modern hired ABM20's from the Austrian-manufacturer Voest-Alpine) with shuttle car transportation of coal to a conveyor belt and from there to the surface.

Delays in equipment arriving and reliability has meant a longer and more costly build up to production than originally envisaged. CDN (PS) estimates that these problems have set production back by approximately six to eight weeks.

CDN is now hitting targets, in the 15th week of production.

CDN's USP/bid for glory: After the initial phase, the Cook Mine will have the benefit of a continuous bolter/miner and a continuous haulage conveyor system. As demonstrated in South Africa, USA and Canada continuous bolter/miner paired with continuous haulage conveyor systems working as one operational unit can achieve impressive production rates in excess of 1mtpa. Note 'one operational unit', when in full operation, CDN expects more than one operational unit working at Cook.

Add to the equation a new 'state of the art Voest-Alpine ABM25 Bolter/Miner shipped in early July and which is expected to be in service in mid-September. Please believe me, Peter can get very excited about the ABM25 (it takes the ABM20 40 minutes to advance 2 metres, it takes the ABM25 only 12 minutes).

The first shipment of the Flexiveyor continuous haulage components has arrived on site (circa 90% of the components), assembly is planned for completion through August 2007. Engineers from Canada and South Africa will be on site in this period to assemble and surface test the unit prior to operator training.

An eight-car Flexiveyor continuous haulage system is working quite happily at a Potash plant. From listening to the Minesite presentation, I think CDN will be operating a 16-car continuous haulage system.

What CDN has to do is demonstrate that technology currently used in a non-combustible environment (potash does not combust) can be used in a combustible environment (coal can combust). Peter is confident that CDN can demonstrate that this is the case.

A brief interlude

On 20 November 2006 CDN announced a third acquisition [the other two being Cook and Minyango]. This acquisition concerns the purchase by Caledon Coal Pty Ltd ('Caledon Coal') of the entire issued share capital of Mining Technology Partnerships Pty Ltd ('MTP'), for a total maximum consideration of A$8.5 million. MTP is expected to become the exclusive representative in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia of Magatar, the licensee of certain intellectual property rights for a coal mining technology which is the mining method to be utilised in the Cook Mine and potentially the Minyango Deposit.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200611200730043245M

Peter Seear had an interest in the business conducted by MTP.

Magatar?

The second phase of production at Cook will use a patented system called Magatar, this involves a partial-extraction mining method, utilising a custom-built continuous-mining unit coupled with a Flexiveyor/Prairie continuous conveyor system. This set-up is expected to provide the necessary flexibility required to exploit the resource effectively.

Magatar is a patented system, the agency rights to which are held by MTP in Australia. Caledon believes the system can achieve significantly higher productivity rates than the conventional continuous miner-shuttle car system employed at Cook to date.

It is interesting when looking at the Magatar website, the Cook Mine project is specifically mentioned:

http://www.magatar.com/projects.htm

Magatar is currently busy introducing it's LCM [Linear Continuous Mining] methodology at Cook Colliery in Queensland Australia. Cook Colliery has recently been purchased by Caledon from Xstrata Coal and will be the first mine in Australia to employ Magatar's LCM methodology. Full production mining will commence in September 2007 after delivery and commissioning of the major mining machinery from Austria and Canada.

Clearly Magatar has a lot riding on the success of its patented system at Cook.

Talking of motivation.

Carrot

On 23 April 2007, CDN announced: that it has settled an amount of A$1.5 million, being part of the aggregate consideration due to the vendors of MTP, by the issue to MTP of 1,763,046 new ordinary shares of 0.5p each in the Company ('Ordinary Shares'), at a price of 35.45 pence per share.

1,763,046 new Ordinary Shares were allotted on 18 April 2007 equally to the vendors of MTP, Peter Seear (a director of the Company) and Suzanne Seear (as Trustee of the Seear Family Trust).

As a result, Peter Seear has acquired 881,523 Ordinary Shares (representing 0.57% of the enlarged issued share capital, and is now interested in a total of 4,243,189 Ordinary Shares (representing 2.75% of the enlarged issued share capital).

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200704231133583299V

Back to the presentation

Personnel: A full operations crew of 90 people have now been employed, inducted and trained on site. This is a major milestone and verifies the management's confidence in being able to attract a skilled and competitive workforce in the face of stiff competition from a booming mining industry.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200706130700502549Y

At the presentation Peter said that recruitment had not been an issue, miners had come to Peter and the rest of management wanting to know more about the proposed production plans at Cook. As a result of what Peter and the rest of management are able to say that there is a waiting list of operators who want to join CDN.

Water: conservation program has resulted in a number of water saving measures being implemented. Such measures include working with the surface land owners to install water saving troughs and capturing water run off from the wash plant. Additional water saving measures will be introduced in July with the implementation of water re-circulation equipment to the bolter miners.

Port & rail: new twin track section to the Blackwater corridor. Cook coal is exported via the port of Gladstone which is the least affected of the major coal terminals with regard to capacity constraints. Following implementation of the current planned expansions, Queensland Rail estimates that rail capacity to the Gladstone Port will increase to 73mtpa by August 2008 at which time it will match the port. The port exported 45mt in the year ended 30 June 2006.

Gas: a further drilling programme of 14 holes has been undertaken on the Cook leases to facilitate detailed mine planning and upgrading of reserve calculations. Early results from this work confirmed that there are no major gas issues. Peter emphasised this point during the presentation.

Size: the drilling programme at Cook is likely to result in an upgrade of the resource estimate.

Conclusion: the 'tired old lady' does not suffer from gas, and should be more than willing to produce 1.8mt per annum of coking and thermal coal by 2009, next landmark will be 100k tonnes per month, hopefully by the end of 2007.

Prices: As 2007 has progressed, the coking coal market has tightened due to rail and port constraints in Australia, combined with increasing demand from India and China; this demand is putting upward pressure on prices as customers compete for the limited volume of coal that is not already committed to customers under annual contracts. Whilst it is more than six months away from the annual industry negotiating season, a number of analysts are now forecasting a significant recovery in 2008 contract prices.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200706130700502549Y

Per the 2006 annual accounts: Japan is the largest and Korea the second largest importer of coking coal. Rapid industrial growth in China has resulted in China actively decreasing coal exports to feed internal consumption. As a result China is anticipated to become a net importer of coking coal in 2007 (China exported 5.6mt in 2005 CDN estimates). India is also seeking to secure future supplies of coking coal and Indian companies are actively seeking coking coal assets in Australia to supply rapid steel production growth.

For the contract year beginning in April 2007, coking coal prices fell by approximately US$20/t (to the mid US$90's) for the premium brands and often more than that for the lower quality coals. While it is more than six months away from the annual negotiating season, many analysts are now forecasting a significant recovery in 2008 contract prices.

Costs: CDN have quoted US$57/t as the total mine operating costs (SRK report in the re-listing document). Per the Minesite presentation in February 2007, mining costs expected to fall from circa US$25/t to circa US$20/t, in other words total mine operating costs should be US$52/t, in fact possibly lower if the placing see below allow CDN to make further efficiencies to operations.

Based on the recent drilling results undertaken by Caledon, the total Indicated and Inferred Coal Resource in the Aries and Pollux seams are estimated at 240mt with less than 350 metres of overburden cover to the basal seam (Pollux).

Minyango

Minyango was not mentioned at Yesterday's presentation. Suffice to say:

JORC compliant resources:

Indicated 75Mt
Inferred 165Mt

SRK further reports, on a preliminary basis, that the coal quality analyses indicate the potential for three types of coal products to be produced in Minyango:

- A good coking coal and an export thermal coal
- An export thermal coal for a 100% raw product yield
- A semi-soft coking coal for an 85% to 90% yield

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200703140700589029S

The total staged purchase price of Minyango is $US31.5m, staggered over 12 to 15 months, of which at least $US7.2m may be paid in Caledon stock, at Caledon's election.

From the Minesite February 2007 presentation.

In accordance with the Minyango acquisition agreement, the Company settled the second instalment of A$9.6M by the issue of 12,546,175 new ordinary shares of 0.5p each in the Company to Watami Trading Ltd based on the average closing price during the 30 days preceding the election, and amounting to 31.31p.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200703301505401218U

As a result, Watami Trading is the largest shareholder.

Cook and Minyango synergies

- Established production: Cook Mine 1.8Mtpa planned production (SRK CPR), 20 year mine life
- Upside and growth: Minyango Project management believes that the project is potentially capable of production within a relatively short period, up to 2Mtpa, 20 year mine life
- Synergies: Cook and Minyango are separated by 30 kilometres (15 km to the wash plant) and might share processing and transportation infrastructure

From the Minesite February 2007 presentation.

The X-Factor

Re-call that Xstrata sold the Cook Mine to CDN. Salient details:

- Asset purchase from Xstrata: $US 34.2m
- Fully operational mine and access to a coal washplant, fully permitted tailings site, haulage road and rail access, water allocation

As part of the agreement the following was agreed:

- Xstrata to market 100% of CDN's coal off-take for a minimum of two years
- Xstrata to provide rail/port access for a minimum of two years, on a take or pay basis
- Xstrata to guarantee water allocation: 1000 ML

Value Added Benefit: Deal provides benefits of Xstrata marketing expertise due to their market share of coking coal sales, access to market during a time of coal transport constraint

From the Minesite February 2007 presentation.

Some figures

Shares in issue: 154m
Share price: 38.25p
Market cap: 59m

In December 2006 CDN placed 66.2m shares at 40p, net proceeds 24.6m.

Convertible loan notes 2007 issued in December 2006 - 6.04m, conversion price 41.2p or redemption on 14 December 2007.

Convertible loan notes 2010 issued in June 2007 (hence the EGM) - 12.5m, conversion price 50p.

Reason for the June 2007 convertible loan note issue: Since the successful fund raising and re-admission of the Company's shares to trading on AIM in December 2006, the Company has, as part of its ongoing internal review processes, undertaken a review of its budget and operational plan. As a result of a detailed cost benefit analysis the proposed arrangements with the Company's mining contractor were revised, with the aim of bringing the operational mining activities relating to the Cook Mine in-house and providing the Company with a significant reduction in its overall mining costs when in full production. However in order to obtain the cost benefits associated with doing this, the capital expenditure for the mining machinery has become Caledon's responsibility.

Additional reasons for the proposed fund raising relate to working capital. Since the beginning of 2007, the Company has faced production delays, related to incidents that were beyond management's control.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200706130700502549Y

Payments to make in 2007:

- Repayment of the convertible loan notes 2007: 6.04m (could be settled in shares)
- Final payments for Minyango: 13.5m

Management

Robert Alford executive Chairman: joined in 2000, a member of Lloyds, registered as a Non-Executive Director with the FSA

George Salamis CEO: one of the founding shareholders of Caledon

Mark Trevan MD: 25 years with Rio Tinto as senior executive, joined in 2006

Peter Seear Chief Operating Officer, joined in 2006

Paul Ingram Executive Director, based in Asia for the last 15 years

Graham Mascall non-exec, ex-Billiton

Nick Clarke non-exec, MD of Oriel Resources

Shareholders

Watami Trading 8.1%
Gartmore Investment Management 6.1%
UBS Global Asset Management 6.1%
JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management 5.7%
US Global Investors 4.6%
AXA Framlington 4.4%
Hermes Pension Management 4.1%
Capital Research & Management Co 3.4%

Valuation

SRK valued Cook Mine on a project stand-alone basis, not including acquisition costs): NPV of $US256m @ 10%, IRR 583%,

- Cash flows of $US30m US$67m
- 20 years of resource, per tonne
- Coal prices used: 2007-09: $US100, 2010: $US90, 2012: $US75, 2014: $US80, 2016: $US84

Costs acquisition cost: US$34m, additional funding required for capex and working capital (June 2007 placing): US$25m, say US$56m (because it makes the sums easier).

So net value US$200m, equates to 100m.

This ignores the value of Minjango.

Current market cap is 59m.

The USP

Before getting carried away with excitement, one needs to revisit CDN's USP, which is critical to whether CDN justifies a substantial mark-up in share price.

Success or failure depends on two systems:

- Magatar from South Africa
- Flexiveyor/Prairie continuous conveyor from Canada

If both systems work in harmony in Australia, the 'tired old lady' begins to sing a wonderful song for shareholders called '1.8mt of coking and thermal coal per year'.

At a margin of, say, US$35 per tonne, 1.8mt produces an operating cash flow of $63m (31.5m) per year.

And in the audience is Xstrata watching and admiring the 'tired old lady' called Cook, with an existing deep and meaningful relationship with Cook, it is entirely possible that Xstrata will make CDN an offer to take both Cook and the technology off the company's hands at some stage in the future.

I therefore suggest that Fools watch out for announcements in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2007 on whether the Magatar and Flexiveyor/Prairie continuous conveyor work in harmony, the 'tired old lady' could suddenly become very attractive.

One other reason for considering CDN terrific logo.

Finishing on a down note

Given I have a reputation to uphold as being a 'bottle half-empty' kind of guy, Fools should note the following:

- The CDN website needs to be improved (as at 5 July, the 2006 annual report was still not available).
- More important, the board of directors will be 'top heavy' once Australia is bedded down and the Chinese assets have been disposed of or written off. It would not be surprising to see a slimmed down executive team in the next 12 months, which will be good news with regard to overheads.
- Tremendous angst is expressed on the ADVFN CDN thread from time to time (okay, daily). Clearly several shareholders, not least one of the private investors who attended yesterday's EGM, are still suffering Chinese-induced nightmares. Given trading volumes are not high, it does not take too much selling to push the share price down. As a consequence, any tick up in the CDN SP is likely to be slow rather than rapid as the disgruntled bale out as the SP reaches (touch wood) higher levels.

For me personally, I am comfortable to hold as I have met several members of the board, in particular, Peter Seear. For a mining engineer, it must be a wonderful opportunity to introduce into a new country technology that has been tried and tested elsewhere in the world. Peter certainly has the enthusiasm and the experience to make a 'tired old lady' sing.

And there is more

For those who want to learn more about CDN, I suggest that you watch Robert Alford's presentation at February 2007 forum:

http://www.minesite.com/webcasts.html

There is a brief mention of CDN in what is becoming a legendary research article on mining companies close to production.

http://www.minesite.com/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Brokers_Reports_5/juniorminingpaydirt290607.pdf

Enjoy.

Regards.

Colin

Posted: Sun, Jul 8 2007. 11:58 PM IST Delhi
Corporate News

During a recent coal sale, Bhushan Steel Ltd applied for 160,000 tonnes of coal through an intermediary. It ended up with just 7,000 tonnes, enough to last it for three days at the most.
Surging demand for coal is creating a scramble among steel producers, but proving lucrative for those in the business of coal trading.
In last months online sale of the commodity, the Rs4,200 crore Bhushan tried to book coal through two traders, Metal Scrap Trading Corp. Ltd and Coaljunction.com.
Nearly half a million tonnes (mt) were up for sale, but demand for domestic coal was nearly 20 times at 9,209,070 tonnes. Hundreds of bidders paid an average Rs7 lakhper rake (3,500 tonnes)or Rs200 per tonneas theirearnest money deposit to secure supply.
Depending on the grade, Indian coal costs Rs675-2,300 per tonne, cheaper than coal imported from Indonesia and Australia, priced an average Rs2,100 and Rs3,600 a tonne, respectively.
But in the end, steel manufacturers such as Bhushan were left with no choice but to pay a 22-33% markup to coal traders who bid for the commodity along with steel makers and acquire it the same waythrough e-trading agencies authorized by coal producer Coal India Ltd.