interesting aticles

Interesting that they refer to Mantle's mine as Maddingley mine in the following -

Mantle Mining's coal deposit better than expected

BACCHUS Marsh coal miner Mantle Mining's announcement that its deposit was nearly 50 per cent greater than at first thought sent its shares soaring 7.5 per cent in early trade today.

Mantle said drilling on Friday had intersected 44.3 metres of brown coal compared with its earlier estimate of 30 metres.

"For the overall drilling program, total seam thickness as versus predicted seam thickness is 530.8m versus 418m. This equates to an overall 27 per cent increase,'' the company said.

"These results indicate an excellent potential to deliver a robust maiden ... resource at Bacchus Marsh.''

The Maddingley mine at Bacchus Marsh contains a deposit of between 1 billion and 2 billion tonnes of brown coal.

Mantle is a venture with the owners Exergen to develop the deposit.

Exergen's partners include Indian giant Tata Power, Japan's Itochu, Leighton Holdings' Thiess and Queensland engineering firm Sedgman, whose shares also rallied 3.5 per cent this morning.

ends...

A couple of other small articles of interest -

Rich coal seam

Drilling for coal at Bacchus Marsh was finished, with an exploration company finding far more of the resource than it expected.

Mantle Mining said yesterday it had hoped to find a 30m-thick seam of brown coal, but had struck more than 44m instead.
The deposit, which could contain up to two billion tonnes of coal, ‘‘has excellent potential to deliver a robust maiden resource at Bacchus Marsh’’, the company said.

Driller’s logs from 15 holes sunk in mostly farming land south of the town will now be analysed.

Mantle expected preliminary lab results in a fortnight and a final report in six weeks. Further testing was needed to see how economic it would be to build a mine and other infrastructure.

and -

Ted’s adventure costs us $1m
THE cost of Ted Baillieu’s super trade mission to India was more than $1 million.

Taxpayers spent $132,000 sending four ministers and six staff overseas.

The Premier soaked up almost $64,000 by taking four staff with him on the trip, in late February.

Innovation and Small Business Minister Louise Asher, who went to the Middle East as well as India with one staff member, spent $37,000 on both trips.

Manufacturing Minister Richard Dalla-riva, who also took one staff member, racked up nearly $20,000 in bills.

Technology Minister Gordon Rich-phillips, who did not take any staff, spent only $11,000, including time in Singapore.
Ms Asher has defended the expenditure, saying it was money well spent.

‘‘To call it a junket is absurd. It was a trade mission with a very significant economic outcome,’’ she said.

More than $200 million worth of exports would be sent from Victoria to India in the second year after the mission, she said.

Businesses that joined the mission were entitled to a subsidy of up to $3000 for travel and other costs.

Officials were joined by 267 business delegates, who so far have claimed $389,000 in grants.

Additional taxpayer - funded costs to run the mission totalled $658,000.

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I liked this bit -

"More than $200 million worth of exports would be sent from Victoria to India in the second year after the mission, she said."

cheers

B Rubes