indonesia is the worlds largest exporter of thermal...

indonesia is the worlds largest exporter of thermal coal
http://www.marston.com/Portals/0/MARSTON_Review_of_Indonesian_Thermal_Coal_Industry.pdf

and while, like in south africa
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/south-africa-asks-big-miners-for-help-20090903-f9rs.html
indonesia would like to limit exports and stretch out the mining life, since indonesia has gone from an oil exporter to importer, they are gonna need the foreign exchange (same as why australia and sweden and others who were anti-nuke are freeing up uranium mining regulations). countries like usa and australia have been in the past able to fund current account deficits through borrowing, but i seriously doubt that the slightly-thawed world credit markets will be falling over themselves to help indonesia live beyond its means in the coming years/decade.

BHP can't get enough coal out through Newcastle
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/bhp-tries-to-cut-deal-on-newcastle-port-20090903-f9tv.html

and india (with a tiny local coal industry and exponential electricity generation growth) will suck in any coal that anyone can mine and put on a boat. they'll buy it off you FOB, invest in exploration, JV, they'll do the whole lot. if you got coal they want to talk to you.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/india-aims-to-invest-in-foreign-mines-20090903-f9tm.html

the above 3 SMH articles are all from one day (yesterday), just a random walk i did through the online business section of the paper. until you start to join the dots, the expanse that the coal space seems to have before it is quite easy to miss. i'm under no illusions that the world economic downturn is over, but coal, as evil as it is for carbon pollution, looks to be quite the defensive (utilities like electricity generation pretty much always has been considered defensive) with massive growth for the forseeable future.