Riskup, Sorry, I think you already know, but the obscenity I...

Riskup, Sorry, I think you already know, but the obscenity I wrote wasn't directed towards you, but instead towards the Fairfax reporters. Peabody's Australian coal business suffered huge losses in 2015 and 2014, it did not make profits as reported in the article. In fact, the reason that Peabody is going bankrupt is because of its Australian mines, and the debt used to acquire and develop them. Peabody's business in the USA has consistently made money, except for 2015, while its Australian business has consistently lost money.

Peabody, the Federal Resources Minister, and the industry spokesperson quoted in the article want to keep people calm and on the job. For another view you might take a look at an article in the AFR today, http://www.copyright link/business/...will-help-cut-coal-oversupply-20160414-go6eju . With respect to the Peabody bankruptcy, Whitehaven's MD says "So I suspect some tonnes will come out of the market, which will be good for the market as a whole." About Peabody, he goes on to say "And key to survival has been getting costs down – which we have done very well at. They would have struggled to do that, with some of their mines being very difficult."

He's talking about Peabody's Australian mines. Peabody's USA business, other than the debt, was in relatively good shape, with EBITDA margins of 19% and 20% during 2014 and 2015 respectively. Compare to EBITDA margins of 4.2% and 8.8% for Australia.

I'd put the odds at greater than 50% that some Peabody mines will be mothballed.

I'm probably going off on a tangent. As highlighted by PBawley's post, Yancoal is the key to the future of Middlemount, not Peabody.