off nearly 12.5% today, page-17

FYI, WES' coal division comprises

> The major profit driver is the CURRAGH coal mine in QLD, which produces about 7 mtpa, the majority of which is top-quality hard coking coal exported to Asian steelmakers, priced via annual negotiations. The price rose 300% for this year's shipments, so even if it falls 20% next year as some are predicting, that would still be 240% of the price in 2007/08!

> They own 40$ of the Bengalla coal mine in NSW, which is operated by Rio Tinto.

> They supply thermal coal for electricity generation at Collie, WA. They are the dominant (in a few years they will be the exclusive) supplier to WA state-owned VERVE energy. They accepted lower prices for higher volume than in their old long-term contract. WA isn't about to eliminate coal-fired electricity generation with its nightmare memories of the recent Varanus explosion which took out a huge chunk of the state's gas supply! Collie coal is not viable for export due to technical properties.

I note that when WES originally bought Curragh, they were lambasted by the business press, largely because coal wasn't sexy in the dot.com days, imho! And WES' business case would definitely NOT have envisioned a 300% price rise for Curragh coal in ANY year!