from the md's desk blog

Update from India...
I have not been to India for about ten years and as expected the place has changed a lot. When I was working for BHP in the late 90s and early 00s I travelled to India quite a few times to assist with a large lead-zinc exploration project BHP had in Rajasthan, which was a JV with India company Hindustan Zinc. Due to my previous trips, I had a pretty good idea about India and the frenetic, amazing place that it is. My impressions from this trip is that India is just as frenetic but it seems a more organised place and the level of infrastructure is significantly better that when I was here ten years ago. There are new airports, roads, shopping malls, hotels and lots of evidence of development taking place. I get the sense that India is becoming more comfortable with its role as the major regional power on the sub-continent and a major player on the global stage.

It is interesting to note that Meridian will soon have as its two largest shareholders, companies from the two major developing economies in the world; NWME from China and Binani from India. I feel this is a clear indication of the value placed on mineral resources by companies from these emerging economies. Meridian is in the feasibility stage of the Lennard Shelf Project, so the investments by our major shareholders are for the medium to longer term and more strategic in nature. This is an interesting contrast to how, I suspect, Meridian is viewed by Australian investors, who undoubtedly have a shorter term focus. The contrast I draw is not to say one investment view is better than the other, its just different, and in fact it is good to have investors on board with both short and longer term views.

As my trip to India is coming to a conclusion, I have been reflecting on the differences that I have seen and experienced during this trip to India and how it compares to my recent trips up to China to visit NWME. The obvious commonality is the power of human capital that both countries have and the huge growth potential which still exists in both countries. In both countries there is a major focus on providing and upgrading infrastructure and that is going to continue to consume huge amounts of raw material and capital. I suspect that things can be built in China more quickly than in India, mainly due to the difference in the political systems. However, I would also suspect that capital can flow in and out of the Indian economy more quickly than China and this gives India some advantages. The other major advantage India has, is that they have a large English speaking population and whether we like it or not, English is the dominant language of international business. From my trips to both India and China , both countries seem to be identifying their strengths and are looking to further capitalise on those strengths. Overall, I think this will mean we will continue to see an increasing number of both Indian and Chinese companies positioning themselves in Australia, buying Australian assets, further internationalising the ownership of Australian companies and resources.

While in India I had the opportunity to visit Binanis zinc smelter in Cochin in southern India. The smelter is relatively small, from a global perspective, but important for the Indian domestic market. The smelter first commenced operation in the mid 1960s but has been continuously upgraded since that time. What impressed me the most was the attitude of the smelter management towards continuous improvement, their attitude to social responsibility and their safety record. They regularly benchmark their performance in a global sense and routinely have international experts come and review their operations to suggest improvements. I found this a very open and progressive management style. All up, my trip to India has been extremely worthwhile.

As I have spent a bit of time on planes recently, I have been reading Tony Blairs book called A Journey. I was living in the UK just as Blair was coming to power, so it has been interesting to read about his perspectives on his 10 years in power. What has interested me most though, is his thoughts on leadership. Given he was a very successful leader, his views are worthwhile considering. My interpretation and summary of what he says about leadership is as follows:

1. Clarity of Strategic Vision
2. Clear moral compass and a strong belief in what is "Right", ie. be true to ones own ethics
3. Be prepared to take bold steps
4. Identify people who are prepared to work for change and build alliances with them
5. Don't under estimate opposition to change
6. Communicate clearly the objectives of change and outline some measures as to how change is progressing, so progress can be articulated to stakeholders
7. Recognise that leading change is difficult, vested interests will be against it, but persist

For those of us in the position of leading, small teams or large, there are some good lessons to be learned from Blairs leadership perspectives.

Finally, I cannot finish this Blog without pointing out that lead and zinc prices are now both firmly back above US$1/lb again. Go you good thing!

Cheers

Jeremy



21 Oct 2010