Ann: Sale of 30% of Blackwater Mine, page-80

1. You are incorrect, in your figures.
The 30% sale of BW only for US $1.08b is a very good deal for WHC. In April 2024, it paid US $3.2b for BW and Daunia!




2. @coalforme you are correct- it is very beneficial that WHC is directing its met coal sales away from China, and to democratic India.
This diversification away from the Chinese Communist Party (& noting their illegal & viscious trade war against Australia from 2020 to late 2023) gives more guarantees about trading partners who are trustworthy & reliable.

Of further importance is India's booming demand for good quality met coal- which India does not produce- for its steel making. India can be expected, due to necessity, to be a major importer of met coal for many decades... great for WHC. profits & its SP.

S & P Global 7.5.24 A. Barich said

"India's rise as the world's top coking coal consumer and China's surging imports from Down Under are set to boost Australia's lead as the world's biggest producer of the steelmaking ingredient in the coming years.

Australia's total coking coal exports are expected to increase 14% from 2023 to 171.9 million metric tons in 2025,according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea, a division of S&P Global Commodity Insights. No. 2 supplier Mongolia is forecast to boost exports by only 2.3 MMt, or 3%, during that period, while Russian exports are declining...

Australian coking coal exports to China are bouncing back after Beijing lifted its unofficial ban in January 2023. Commodities at Sea forecast a quadrupling by 2025 from 2023 levels despite an expected 26% decline in China's overall metallurgicalcoal imports to 52.5 MMt during the same period.

Meanwhile, India's total coking coal imports are expected to rise to 83.9 MMt in 2025 from 73.8 MMt in 2023, according to Commodities at Sea.

"Coking coal demand will be strong in coming years because the world's decarbonization will need HIGH GRADE (my emphasis) coking coal and Australia is the source for it, and the buyers are many," Pranay Shukla, head of dry bulk freight and commodities research at Commodity Insights, said in an interview'.

India, China demand to widen Australia's lead as top coking coal exporter | S&P Global Market Intelligence (spglobal.com)