Two NHC relevant snippets just published in the Australian, both...

Two NHC relevant snippets just published in the Australian, both bullish for NHC
( second article is bullish for those that worry about NHC buying the BHP assets.):

8:38 AMChina "very short of coal": Macquarie
DAVID ROGERS
Macquarie Equities notes that seaborne thermal coal prices have continued rallying into the September quarter, driven by strong buying from all major consuming regions."In particular, China remains very short of coal, with a widening 'arb' and relaxation of quotas driving a surge in imports," the broker says.The broker also notes that strong manufacturing activity in Asia has boosted demand from other coal consumers, including buyers of high calorific value coal like Japan-Korea-Taiwan), though India remains something of a 'soft spot'."Contrary to most expectations from just a few months ago, coal is also back in the money in Europe, even after the more than 80% year to date rally in EU carbon prices," Macquarie says.Strong power demand and soaring gas prices amid "dangerously-low" inventories in the EU has seen a "moderate increase in coal-burn across the continent.""We expect tightness in the seaborne market to continue well into Q4," Macqurie says. "The structural shortage in China seems hard to address in the short term, despite the NDRC’s calls for increased production.China’s power plants need to rebuild stocks ahead of winter and should easily absorb any short-term sequential improvement in mine supply."So despite indexes approaching multi-year highs, Macquarie doesn't see scope for a significant price correction and says recent price action has been consistent with "fundamental tightness" of supply.

Peabody preferred bidder for BHP coal: sources
BRIDGET CARTER
New York-listed Peabody Energy is believed to have reached preferred bidder status in the competition to buy BHP’s coal mining assets.Sources say that other Indonesian groups that had been considering an acquisition of the portfolio have stopped working on a transaction for now.The understanding around the market is that this has put Peabody in pole position and the St Louis-based group that is advised by Bank of America and Amicaa remains in talks with the mining giant about an acquisition, in an indication that it has become the preferred bidder.Some suspect that an outcome on the sales process will be known next week when BHP delivers its full year results.