Stured, Very interesting info. It is no wonder the Chinese will...

Stured,

Very interesting info. It is no wonder the Chinese will pay so much to secure coal now. The Chinese produce something like 78% of their electricity by Coal. They have 1.3B people and have been growing their econonmy by about 10% for the last 17 years. Roubini, (a major bear who called the current financial crisis well before it happened) said that it was likely that China would significantly slow down to around 6% of Growth and that for a developing nation like China this will cause significant problems because it is important for the government to keep moving the population from rural poorness into urban middle class. Even if the slowdown occurs, there will still be large demand for coal for a long time into the future. 6% per annum is a doubling every 12 years which means a lot of extra production is going to be required - slowdown or not.

The worlds population is completely dependent on energy. Coal is not going away and I doubt the price will come down with such long term demand almost guaranteed. People who sell out now will feel sick to their stomach for not hanging onto a quality small cap with proven management track record. Glad to hear you are hanging in there and understand the long term picture. I am very Bearish on the current financial situation thanks to the boys over on Wall street but I have no fear in this little energy play medium and long term.