Clive Palmer, chairman of Australian firm Resourcehouse, has admitted that the figure of $US60 billion it trumpeted at the weekend in a supply contract with a Chinese company was only a estimate.
Doubts were cast over the deal firstly after China Power International Development Ltd informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had signed no such deal – only an agreement of intent and that there had been no discussion over prices. Then Mr Palmer was forced to admit on Tuesday that the company named in weekend press releases was incorrect and that an agreement had actually been signed with China Power International Holding Ltd, its unlisted parent company. However, he added: ''Resourcehouse has estimated the cumulative value of any coal sales made under the agreement to be in the order of $US60 billion considering market prices across the life of the agreement.''
Meanwhile Queensland Premier Anna Bligh leapt to Mr Palmer's defence, saying that Chinese claims that there was only an agreement of intent were wrong.
''I have sighted myself the signed agreements which I am advised are legally binding agreements and go to the question of a quantity of supply,'' she said.
''The question of the contract price for that supply is something that would be negotiated probably on a triennial basis throughout the 20-year life of the supply contract.''
A spokesman for Resourcehouse said yesterday said that the agreement with CPI Holdings ''specifically is for a 20-year term of supply of coal at a price linked to the seaborne market for the sale of 30 million tonnes per annum''. However there is some scepticism amongst analysts that thermal coal prices will maintain those prices in the 20 years from 2014, the earliest Resourcehouse’s China First mine which will supply coal for the deal will be in production.
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