PanAust Finds Gold; Sydney Stocks Up

Mayank Mehta, Chandrasekhar Atreya and Sanjay Barot
18 Jun, 2010
New York City

Stocks in Australia rallied after a bond sale by Spain eased concerns about Europe

[R]6:00 PM Sydney, Australia – Stocks in Australia rallied after a bond sale by Spain eased concerns about Europe’s debt crisis. Cockatoo Coal expects funding approval for export terminal at Gladstone port in the second half of the year. Montara oil spill report is received by Resources Minister. PanAust discovers high grade gold at Tharkhek prospect in Laos.[/R]

ASX 200 index in Australia increased 0.54% or 24.60 to close at 4,551.90 and of the stocks in the index, 111 increased, 68 declined and 21 were unchanged.

Cockatoo Coal Ltd, part of an 18-member consortium of Australian mining companies, expects a funding agreement to be finalized for construction of a terminal in Queensland, for export of coal, in the second half of this year.

The consortium was formed to develop the Wiggins Island Export terminal at the port of Gladstone.

“I’ve never seen an infrastructure project move on time. There’re always constant shifts on the back of shifts in the markets and we do expect to close the financial part during the second half of this year,” said Greg Germon, investor relations manager of the Sydney-based firm at a conference yesterday.

BHP Billiton’s Group President Michael Yeager when asked by analysts and investors on May 24 about potential mergers and acquisitions said the company had the firepower to do enormous things.

BHP, Australia’s largest oil and gas producer is likely to benefit from the Gulf of Mexico fallout if London-based BP Plc or the smaller players in the region sell their assets in that region as tougher regulations put in place by the U.S. administration, drive up costs.

BHP Billiton, closed part of its railway line in Western Australia’s Pilbara region after an incident resulting in the death of a man today. The closed line takes iron ore from mines at Newman to Port Hedland for export.

“The affected part of our mail rail line from Newman to Port Hedland has been closed and all further rail construction work has been suspended until further notice,” said BHP spokeswoman Fiona Martin in a statement today.

In a statement released in Canberra today, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson confirmed that he has received the findings by a commission of inquiry into the 2009 oil and gas spill from the Montara Wellhead Platform.

The findings have not yet been made public.

ASX Movers

Gunns Limited led gainers in the S&P ASX 200 index with a rise of 8.5% followed by St Barbara Limited 6.9%, Perseus Mining Limited 5.9% and Downer EDI Limited 4.5%.

Brambles Limited led decliners in the S&P ASX 200 index with a loss of 4.9% followed by Metcash Limited 3.7%, Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited 3.7%, Equinox Minerals Limited 3.5% and Alesco Corporation Ltd 3.1%.

Other Movers

Alesco Corporation Ltd fell 3.1% to A$2.76 after the maker of building materials and home products says it expects to post a loss of around $126 million for fiscal 2010 and will not pay a final dividend.

David Jones Limited closed unchanged at A$4.51 after the Chief Executive Officer stepped down, acknowledging inappropriate behavior toward a female staff member.

Infigen Energy fell 1.7% to A$0.85 after the wind power producer stock was downgraded to “underperform” from “neutral” at Credit Suisse Group AG.

National Australia Bank Limited, the lender, rose 1.4% to A$25.17.

Newcrest Mining Limited rose 1.7% to A$35.26.

PanAust Limited rose 2.9% to A$0.52 after the company discovered a continuous vein of high-grade gold skarn mineralization at the Tharkhek gold prospect, is in close proximity to the Tharkhek copper-gold deposit near Phonsavan, Laos.

Rio Tinto Limited rose 1.5% to A$71.14 after the mining company stock was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Societe Generale.