Talbot in $103 million Riversdale coal mine purchase May 30,...

Talbot in $103 million Riversdale coal mine purchase

May 30, 2008

QUEENSLAND coal tycoon Ken Talbot's private investment vehicle has taken a near 6 per cent stake in African-focused coal miner, Riversdale Mining.

Talbot Group Investments paid $103 million for 11.06 million shares in Riversdale, which has become a market favourite after its spectacular appreciation in the past 12 months.

Riversdale holds some of the best tenements for coking coal in the Moatzize basin in Mozambique and also receives cash flow from its two mines in South Africa.

The total resource for its tenements is more than 1.2 billion tonnes of both thermal and coking coal. Shares in Riversdale, listed in Australia, jumped 80c yesterday to $10.55 on the news.

Mr Talbot -- who became a billionaire through his shareholding in the company he helped found, Macarthur Coal -- recently pocketed about $180 million through a sale of 9 million shares in Macarthur, leaving him with a 20 per cent stake in the company that is now in the crosshairs of steel giant ArcelorMittal, which bought 10 per cent from shareholder Nathan Tinkler and just under 5 per cent from Mr Talbot.

The Talbot Group also has investments in several resource-focused companies covering uranium, iron ore, copper, nickel and molybdenum.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23780444-5005200,00.html