See the article below from bloomberg about Clive Palmer and...

See the article below from bloomberg about Clive Palmer and $5.5b in chinese debt funding for one of his coal projects.

Resourcehouse, China Exim in $5 Billion Debt Talks (Update2)
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A By Jesse Riseborough and Rebecca Keenan

Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Resourcehouse Ltd., planning a $3 billion initial share sale, is in talks with Export-Import Bank of China for A$5.5 billion ($5 billion) in debt funding for its Australian coal project, Chairman Clive Palmer said.

The bank may provide 70 percent of the cost of developing the China First coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, Palmer told reporters today in Brisbane. Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd., a state-owned builder, agreed to buy as much as 40 million metric tons of coal a year from the mine, he said.

China Metallurgical “have been diligently pursuing that and that resulted in the issuing of a letter in Beijing earlier this week confirming that the China Exim Bank was interested in providing the debt funding,” said Palmer, Australia’s fifth- richest man. He declined to comment on the planned IPO.

Palmer is seeking to tap investor demand for coal and iron ore producers. The Bloomberg World Mining Index almost doubled this year as demand for commodities rebounded, driven by China.

Resourcehouse has the right to mine 1.4 billion tons of soft thermal coal in Galilee Basin, Macquarie analyst Andrew Dale said in a Nov. 6 report. Palmer bought the project after completing the acquisition of Waratah Coal Inc. in April for about C$98 million ($93 million).

China Metallurgical agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in the China First project for about A$700 million to A$800 million, Palmer said.

Export Contracts

“We’ve also had further discussions on our export contracts today in relation to our coal exports,” he said. “A large state-owned power company now is joining MCC in acquiring about 75 percent of the product which is about a A$3 billion-a- year contract over a period of about 25 years, so it is about A$75 billion in revenue for Australia.”

Palmer, who also owns the Gold Coast United soccer club, was the only person in the top 10 of Business Review Weekly Magazine’s annual rich 200 list whose wealth increased last year. His fortune more than doubled to A$3.4 billion, according to the list that was published in May.

He originally planned a A$5 billion IPO of his company Resource Development International Ltd., owner of iron ore, steel, nickel and energy assets, in July last year, aiming to be dual-listed in Hong Kong and Australia.

Resourcehouse is one of the international resources companies seeking a public listing on Hong Kong’s stock market, tapping China’s demand for energy, metals and other raw materials. United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum maker, may raise as much as $3 billion in a Hong Kong IPO by December, two people familiar with its plan said last month.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jesse Riseborough in Brisbane at [email protected]; Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at [email protected]

Last Updated: November 20, 2009 03:42 EST