Feb. 3, 2026

Coal in 2026: The Energy Inflection Point (Matt Warder)

With coal stocks moving strongly of their lows of 2025 and the funding landscape being flipped on its head, we called upon the most knowledge person in the sector, Matt Warder, to give us the run down.In this conversation we covered:

• Who’s in the M&A hotseat

• Where met and thermal prices move

• How Matt’s constructing his portfolio

• Whether India is replacing Chinese demand

• The changes wrought by the royalties’ regimes

• How AI has changed the game for power generationFollow Matt Warder’s on:

• Substack - https://thecoaltrader.com/

• Twitter / X - https://x.com/mfwarder

Stocks mentioned: WHC, SMR, NHC, BHP, GLEN.L, BSL, RIO, BTU.NY, HCC.NY, AMR.NY, METC.N, AAL.L,


This was recorded on 3.2.2026.

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TIMESTAMPS  

(0:00) Intro
(0:40) 2026: Year of the Great Accumulation
(2:30) US Steel & BlueScope Takeover Battles
(5:00) Thermal Coal & AI Power Demand
(7:50) Energy Grid Constraints on AI Growth
(10:30) Indonesian Coal Export Quotas
(13:10) Indian Steel Demand & Market Dynamics
(20:00) China vs India Steel Production Models
(23:00) Cost Curve Evolution & Labor Inflation
(29:00) Long-Term Met Coal Price Forecasts
(30:30) Robots, AI & Fossil Fuel Paradox
(31:10) M&A Outlook: Anglo Assets & Consolidation
(33:30) Latimore's Illawarra Acquisition
(35:50) BHP BMA Divestment Potential
(37:50) US Dollar Impact on Australian Producers
(40:40) Coal Stock Valuations: Stanmore, Whitehaven, Yancoal
(43:30) ESG 4.0 & Cheaper Debt for Coal Companies
(44:40) Top Met Coal Stock Picks
(46:00) Rare Earths & Critical Minerals Strategy
(49:10) Trump Stockpile Announcement & Reuters Article
(50:40) Wrap Up

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1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,480
It's interesting.
Well, somebody's going to have

2
00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:03,080
to come in and take the Anglo
assets.

3
00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,040
I'm not sure who is going to be
the best candidate for that.

4
00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,040
You know, I would have said BHPA
while ago, you know, now that

5
00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:11,080
Anglo is sort of, you know,
engaged.

6
00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,200
I'm not sure what that's going
to look like 1 down the road.

7
00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:20,360
For all the money miners who are
not acquainted with you yet that

8
00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,680
water you are you're out.
You're our go to coal man.

9
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,200
You're the world's go to coal
man everything coal met thermal.

10
00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:31,240
We we just ask Matt and I've
I've noticed you throwing around

11
00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,760
this this this theme you're
toying with the 2026 is the the

12
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,920
year of the great accumulation.
What do you mean by that?

13
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,240
Well, you know, I had thought
that 2026 initially was going to

14
00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,680
be the year where everything
really pulled back.

15
00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,600
Harkening back in my days of
Woodmac, we saw kind of peak

16
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,960
Chinese steel production in
2024, which pretty close to what

17
00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:58,000
happened in reality.
For a 10 year forecast, that's

18
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,560
not bad.
And usually what happens is, you

19
00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:03,120
know, cycle lasts about five
years.

20
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,400
This one started for real in
2021.

21
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,880
So, you know, if past is
prologue, as Rick rule would

22
00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,640
say, that would mean that, you
know, 2026 would have been the

23
00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,160
year for to kind of withstand
all that.

24
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:20,520
But instead the the the China
property debacle and just a real

25
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,960
downfall and demand they're
pulled all of that forward into

26
00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:25,400
2025.
And so instead of getting a

27
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:30,880
summer recovery, we got a big
fat nothing and prices bottomed

28
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:35,760
out.
But since then we've had lower

29
00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,520
production than expected.
We just had a cyclone on the Met

30
00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,240
side.
We've had a cold winter.

31
00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,160
The things have improved on the
thermal side.

32
00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,280
And we've tested what I think is
really, you know, the cost floor

33
00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,920
for for each of those individual
sectors.

34
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,000
And I might add, we've tested it
successfully.

35
00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,160
There have been a kind of a bare
minimum of, of, you know,

36
00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:58,760
bankruptcies, you know,
companies going into

37
00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,720
receivership.
Surprisingly, there's been a

38
00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,960
bare minimum of, of my idlings
too.

39
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,400
So I, I think, you know, we can,
we can look back through the

40
00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,880
last year and say pretty firmly
that, you know, the coal

41
00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,480
industry really is on, on pretty
good footing compared to the

42
00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:17,680
before times.
Well, as as 10 year forecasts

43
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,360
go, that's, that's quite the
pick Matt.

44
00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,840
But one thing I'm curious to
hear whether you kind of had in,

45
00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:25,760
in your bingo cards is some of
the takeover battles and kind of

46
00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:28,800
tussles we've had for some of
the major steel producers.

47
00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,160
So US steel played out last year
and we're in the midst of 1 here

48
00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,120
in Australia with with Bluescope
Steel.

49
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,520
And that adds such a fascinating
geopolitical kind of lens to

50
00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,760
this whole flushed steel market
globally, doesn't it?

51
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:45,880
Yeah.
And you know, my track record of

52
00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,400
predicting geopolitical outcomes
like that, you know, is, is far

53
00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,360
from successful.
So, you know, I don't always

54
00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,680
know how those things are going
to work out, But it made sense,

55
00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,840
at least from the from the US
standpoint, that we had a

56
00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:59,680
company with a much better
balance sheet come in to

57
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,240
shepherd these assets going
forward.

58
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,760
I haven't followed Bluescope
particularly closely just

59
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:08,560
because, you know, for me down
under, I tend to be a consumer

60
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,160
of data rather than a generator
of it.

61
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,960
But I'm interested to see what
happens there for, for the US,

62
00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,160
that made a lot of sense.
And I was glad to see the deal

63
00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,680
go through with Nippon, despite
both President Biden and

64
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:23,560
President Trump having their
misgivings about it.

65
00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,720
You know, my, my sense of it was
that any concern about the union

66
00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,200
side of it was really overblown.
You know, the, the plans were

67
00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:35,280
were in place for a long time to
build, you know, big river steel

68
00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,240
too.
And now we have a better balance

69
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,240
sheet to do that with.
I think that's good for for the

70
00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:45,200
workforce, not bad.
But As for As for blue scope, I

71
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:47,160
don't really know honestly.
I was going to ask you guys

72
00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,200
about that while we were having
this discussion because you guys

73
00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,080
can probably provide the type of
context that we need to sort of

74
00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,080
think about in order to figure
out long term positioning there.

75
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,240
I think it's, I think it's like,
yeah, these these really

76
00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:07,840
ordinary businesses for, for
many reasons, but because,

77
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,120
because assets in, in, you know,
strategic Western countries with

78
00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:14,920
enormous replacement value that
can, can, can provide enormous

79
00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,560
strategic value.
We're in the era of strategic

80
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,839
value is real value and and
hence the evolving, evolving

81
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,400
kind of, you know, corporate,
corporate outcomes for these

82
00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:26,120
businesses.
And we've seen the signs that

83
00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:27,480
the governments are going to
support these.

84
00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,920
You know, we've seen about every
smelter backed up by the

85
00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:31,520
government here as well.
So you know, you've got the

86
00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,760
government in your in your
corner in the West as well, a

87
00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,440
huge add to that.
Yeah, I've been writing about

88
00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,000
that more on the on the rare
earth side than than on steel in

89
00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,880
particular.
But just looking at the Trump

90
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,360
administration's willingness to
take a a golden share in, you

91
00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,360
know, those US steel operations,
governments are opening up

92
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:53,000
pocketbooks to our corner of the
market.

93
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,720
And that hasn't really happened
in ever to my knowledge.

94
00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,280
Yeah, well, if we, if we flip
the conversation to energy

95
00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:03,120
generation, that's a huge part
of, of what you've kind of been

96
00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,760
speaking about with thermal coal
dynamics, AI and, and all of

97
00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,960
these kind of things.
And the, the rhetoric has kind

98
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:14,160
of changed there a bit as well.
We saw just in the past week a

99
00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,840
very important power plant in
New South Wales extended again

100
00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:20,680
another, another two years of
life added to it.

101
00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:22,880
And this is something you've
been speaking about in in the

102
00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,080
States as well, you know, no
longer switching the coal power

103
00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,440
stations off, but maintaining
them.

104
00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:29,960
You know, I don't think we're at
the point where we're talking

105
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:31,600
about building new coal power
plants.

106
00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,360
But how is that narrative
playing out right now, Matt?

107
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,800
So it's playing out exactly like
that now there, there will be,

108
00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:44,760
there was 1 closure here that
has resulted in Alliance

109
00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,680
Resource Limited partners taking
off their Matiki mine, which had

110
00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,440
a 1,000,000 Tony year customer
that plants going to have, you

111
00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,040
know, continued shutdowns and
operations.

112
00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,240
So there, there are still
retirements happening, but most

113
00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,400
are trying to be prolonged for
as long as they can.

114
00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,480
I, I don't know if I've said
that on here before, but I, I

115
00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,280
bet we get maybe one new coal
plant built in the US over the

116
00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:10,080
next 10 years.
I would venture to guess it's

117
00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,800
probably in Wyoming where that
would make better sense to pair

118
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,840
with hyperscalers and in a
government willing to sort of,

119
00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:23,720
you know, go go along with that.
But but yeah, to your point, I

120
00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:25,920
think everywhere else is just
keep them on for as long as you

121
00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:30,160
can until small modular reactors
get here sometime in the next

122
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,600
decade.
Other than that, you're just

123
00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:34,920
building gas plants as best as
you can.

124
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,680
And I think you'll see a lot of
behind the meter, you know,

125
00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,800
solar and and some other
installations as well.

126
00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,880
I mean for for hyper scalers,
it's all of the above and then

127
00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,080
some.
So they'll, they'll take

128
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,120
whatever power they can get
almost at whatever price they

129
00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,880
can get it until we wind up at
the point where they're building

130
00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:59,200
just faster than power capacity
demand can can keep up with it.

131
00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,120
I mean, these, these
hyperscalers, they, they need

132
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:06,200
almost infinite compute and you
know, you've got this collision

133
00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,800
of, of exponential compute
growth with, with what is

134
00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,760
clearly the ability to provide
a, a linear energy capacity at

135
00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,640
at best and, and an old system.
It's a, it's a strange

136
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,120
confluence of circumstances that
we're contending with at a time

137
00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,440
when, you know, energy
constraints have never been more

138
00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:25,880
stark.
And yet, and yet like you talk

139
00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,200
about thermal, thermal coal,
coal markets, energy markets

140
00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,640
broadly have been like in a
bottoming range.

141
00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:34,480
Strange.
Yeah.

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00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:38,200
So it's, you know, shudder to
think what energy costs will be

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00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,240
like at the at the peak of this
next cycle.

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00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,640
But with regard to with regard
to compute, I mean, there

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00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:45,880
there's nothing that's going to
stop a hyperscaler from building

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00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:49,840
out compute capacity, right?
But if the energy grid can't

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00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,720
keep up with it, then all you
get basically are increasing

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00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,360
prices.
And that can without additional

149
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,520
capacity, whatever additional
compute you build just lays

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00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:03,440
dormant and it doesn't get used.
So, you know, the, the energy

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00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,840
constraint is the functional
capacity for, you know, the, for

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00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:10,480
AI rate of change development
just in general.

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00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,320
And that's going to be true
whether we're talking the, you

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00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:17,040
know, the United States or
Europe or China or, you know,

155
00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:18,840
the Southeast Asia and other
places.

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00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:21,240
That's, that's the limiting
factor everywhere.

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00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,480
And it's, it's contingent upon,
you know, a country being able

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00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,880
to supply and feed that beast as
much as it can.

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00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:31,400
China is obviously better
positioned than most to be able

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00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,159
to to to weather that storm, but
even they have fuel constraints

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00:08:35,159 --> 00:08:37,600
as well.
Can can you wrap some numbers

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00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,720
around it for us, Matt, just to
hammer home the the point like

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00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,600
what, what has the the growth
rate of, of electricity demand

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00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:48,880
being to date fairly flat as I
understand it and and what are

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00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,520
we kind of looking at this, this
step change being?

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00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,280
It's, it's relatively flat.
I mean, I think if you go back

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00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,120
and look at we're, we're moving
from a completely flat

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00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,400
environment as far as power
demand growth in the United

169
00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,760
States to, you know, maybe one
2% per year, which is still

170
00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,120
pretty flat, mind you.
But when you, when you take a

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00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,400
look at the, for me, the, the
where, the place where you can

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00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,480
actually see it play out is in
power prices.

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00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,000
And power prices are incredibly
volatile.

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00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,000
But if you take, you know, a, a
moving average and you look at

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00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,080
it over time, well, since 2021,
since this build out really

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00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:25,880
began, power prices had just
moved steadily up into the right

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00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,800
at like a 10 or a 15° angle.
And I, I don't think there's,

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00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,440
you know, there, there's
capacity to absorb a hockey

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00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,080
stick in the short term.
Like we just had, you know,

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00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,880
massive winter storm plow
through the US and then a follow

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00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,320
up one on the back of it.
We had some freeze off, some

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00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,720
natural gas, But for the most
part, it seemed like the

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00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,920
utilities were, were prepared
for it to some degree, you know,

184
00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:56,560
but but the, the ability to
absorb a sustained spike over

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00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:59,360
time, I think is eventually
would impact the hyperscalers as

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00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,480
well.
So, you know, in that, in that

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00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:06,440
sense, you know, can I quantify
it in terms of demand?

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00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,320
I, I think we'll just have a,
you know, one, 2% power demand

189
00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:13,200
growth until price begins to get
in the way.

190
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:14,600
When, when that is I, I don't
know.

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00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:19,480
That's a function of capital
access rather than, you know,

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00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,240
the energy grid here at this
point in time, right now, the

193
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,680
grid is you get what you get and
you don't get upset more so than

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00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:28,720
anything else.
One of the one of these, one of

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00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,080
the realities of the build out
of the the the data centres

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00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:33,560
required is they're also very
like aluminium intensive.

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00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:37,360
They need a, a, a bunch of extra
aluminium and then building out

198
00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,120
the aluminium smelter capacity.
Well, aluminium smelters are

199
00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:42,720
incredibly energy intensive
themselves.

200
00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,760
So there's like, you know, an,
an extra layer of energy

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00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:50,040
intensity required to service
the data sensors from, from new

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00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,600
aluminium demand growth that
that comes out.

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00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:54,840
And, and aluminium is an
interesting one because where,

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00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:56,480
where there is a lot of like
capacity build out in the

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00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:00,000
aluminium sector.
It is in Indonesia right now and

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00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,920
in Indonesia incredibly topical
for the sea born thermal market

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00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,560
this week as like there's
there's news out that they're

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00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:12,000
reducing supply quote as well
like 40 to 70% on 2025 levels.

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00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,080
Is that like a, is that right?
And B, like surely this has an

210
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,480
enormous impact on on thermal
seaborne markets.

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00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,320
Yeah, we, so my partner Joe
Aldina and I actually just did a

212
00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:24,120
podcast talking about this exact
thing.

213
00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:27,480
And one of the things we
highlighted was, and I asked

214
00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,120
about, I was at Woodmac at the
last time this happened, which

215
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:36,040
was back in 2021 on a, on a
temporary visit to my old

216
00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,800
stomping grounds.
And the, the net result is these

217
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:41,840
are headline numbers, the 40 to
70%.

218
00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:44,440
We're not going to decrease
production by 40 to 70%.

219
00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,440
It's, you know, it's a stick
that's meant to get people to

220
00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:50,680
reduce production.
So you'll start to see some

221
00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:53,360
mines come off, you'll start to
see some supply rationale, but

222
00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,160
it's not going to get to 40%.
It'll get to, you know, you

223
00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,480
know, few million tons, 100
million tons or something like

224
00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,560
that.
And then it'll start to, to

225
00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:03,920
taper off.
And that's, that's OK.

226
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,560
I mean you can pull that much
out of the market that helps

227
00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:10,800
that helps the, you know, the
other suppliers in the basin

228
00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:15,080
that'll help you know, Newcastle
5500 kind of get off the schneid

229
00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:17,000
as well.
It's been, you know, languishing

230
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,360
down here much the ankle
chagrin.

231
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,640
Think about how how how big a
pricey ankle share would be

232
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,640
share pricey ankle would have if
we can actually get 5500 moving.

233
00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:32,280
So, you know, I, I don't really
look at the at the headline

234
00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:36,960
numbers so much as I look at it
as just a geopolitical way to

235
00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:41,520
get supply ration to some degree
to support, you know, kind of

236
00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,280
broader markets.
And I think we need that.

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00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,760
I mean, we got a nice little
jump in Newcastle prices here

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00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,160
this week.
I like about a $5 jump or so up

239
00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,720
at 1:16.
But that's been the first kind

240
00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:59,920
of like bullish feeling I've had
in the thermal coal world for a

241
00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:01,760
while, you know?
At the margin, this is

242
00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,360
incredibly constructive though.
Like, yeah.

243
00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,200
Can you speak to the demand
side?

244
00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,440
We touched on it in the States
and North America there, but how

245
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:15,040
is Asian demand kind of looking?
There's been so much made of

246
00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,280
China's build out of Avs and we
kind of know where a lot of the

247
00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,120
power of that needs to kind of
come from.

248
00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,320
So what's the narrative there
looking like at the moment?

249
00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:26,480
Asking the wrong guy here at
this point in time that's more

250
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,880
of a question for my partner.
We've kind of bifurcated into

251
00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,040
thermal and met coal markets.
I'll be sure and have him on the

252
00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:35,400
next time.
As far as, as far as I know, you

253
00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,120
know, I think that the price is
kind of spoken for itself with

254
00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:41,000
regard to demand.
We we have, we have plenty of

255
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,360
supply to support any demand
creases that's out there here at

256
00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,200
the moment.
But you know, even just the JKM

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00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:55,800
price going up from, you know, I
want to say, what is this 1562

258
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,440
to 1790?
I mean, we had a, you know, 10

259
00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:03,200
year 20% move up and that's
really supported, you know,

260
00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:05,760
Newcastle prices here.
When when those sorts of things

261
00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,440
happen and you see Newcastle
that responsive that quickly

262
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:13,360
that that means that behind the
the scenes there is tighter

263
00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,840
availability for those types of
coals that you think there are.

264
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,680
So I don't think it'll take much
in terms of either incremental

265
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:23,800
supply rationalization or
incremental demand increases to,

266
00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:25,800
to get thermal coal moving
again.

267
00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,680
I'm not sure we're going to see
the blow off tops like we've

268
00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,480
seen in the past.
But you know, the in the before

269
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,240
times, what was the typically
the highs of a cycle are now the

270
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,840
lows.
And then, you know, we could

271
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:41,560
probably see $200 Newcastle
again, you know within three to

272
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,920
four years assuming that, you
know, demand continues,

273
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,160
continues on at the pace that
it's that's currently on.

274
00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,240
On the yeah, the, the China side
of things, maybe even from from

275
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,360
like a met perspective, like the
thing that I guess like really

276
00:14:55,360 --> 00:15:00,840
took the wind out of out of out
of coal in 2324 was the, the,

277
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,960
the ability for China to, to
source a lot of its, you know,

278
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,320
coal, coal demand from, from
increased production from, from

279
00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:12,400
Mongolia, which was yeah, cut
off and then and subsequently

280
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,800
kind of ramped pretty hard.
What are those dynamics like

281
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,960
for, for Mongolian coal into
China now?

282
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,080
Is it still still ramping
strong?

283
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,720
Any any changes there?
As far as volumes go, I think

284
00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,080
we've kind of hit the the wall
of where volumes are going to

285
00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,640
be.
I mean you can to have any

286
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,320
additional imports you'll
actually need to build out

287
00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:40,120
transport capacity.
So as soon as you see those

288
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,000
capital allocations get the get
completed then then there will

289
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,680
be an incremental uptick.
But what China's done on the

290
00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:51,720
medical side is they've they've
done their, they've increased

291
00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:54,960
domestic production.
They were, they were down in

292
00:15:55,080 --> 00:16:00,520
last year, I want to say maybe
15% on the met side for, for key

293
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:05,360
components, which kept their
reliance on the seaborne market.

294
00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:08,640
But as soon as that began to go
in the other direction, that's

295
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:11,440
what really coincided with the
bottom falling out of met prices

296
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,440
and those sorts of things.
And now like this quarter, China

297
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:16,880
hasn't been setting the price at
all.

298
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,880
There's not really much urgency
for them to go into the market

299
00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,240
to pick up premium low Vol tons.
Kind of what they've been doing

300
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,240
is they're relying on domestic
production.

301
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,680
They're supplementing that with,
you know, the maximum amount of

302
00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:31,920
tons they can import from
Mongolia and Russia.

303
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,880
And then they're going out to
the market for, you know, a few

304
00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,840
million tons a month of Kohl's
with strength contributing

305
00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,920
property.
So going to Canada for for good

306
00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,360
premium mid volatile coal.
They're going to Australia for

307
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:48,040
mostly for premium mid Vol,
something they can get kind of

308
00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:50,200
off spec second tier hard
cooking coal.

309
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,960
Like that's kind of what China's
been in the market for.

310
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,320
So the driver of this medical
run up to 200 and 52150 bucks

311
00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,760
plus in the physical market has
been India.

312
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,000
So India's really showed up in a
big way.

313
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,000
And if you look at their steel
prices, their steel prices have

314
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,520
come up commensurately with
cooking coal prices.

315
00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:13,560
So the more room that their
domestic market gives them, the

316
00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,720
more resilient that that PLV
prices are going to be.

317
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:18,960
It's been good to see.
We've been talking about it for

318
00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:21,640
a couple of years, but it's nice
to see it play out that way for

319
00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,520
once.
Those those global steel cycles

320
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:29,160
really, yeah, like really,
really map out a lot of this

321
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:31,120
demand, right.
And, and, and India's a much

322
00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:35,000
earlier like, yeah, like he's,
he's at an early stage in that

323
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,920
steel cycle that China would
have experienced many, many, you

324
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,400
know, many years ago now.
Yeah.

325
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:42,920
I mean, they're they're kind of
taking the reins from where

326
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:44,720
China left off.
So we're going to see China

327
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,440
contract relatively slowly, you
know, turn inward for their

328
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,400
supply much like they've been.
But India can really ramp up

329
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:56,080
through the end of the decade.
I forget how much incremental

330
00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:00,400
steel capacity they have coming
online, but it's, you know, if

331
00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,640
you if you pair it down to just
premium low Vol and premium mid

332
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:07,240
Vol and you look at what the
forward demand looks like,

333
00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,360
there's not enough that's in the
pipeline in the development

334
00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:14,760
pipeline to supply it.
So more than likely what's going

335
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,040
to happen is that that demand
will trickle down into second

336
00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,120
tier hard cooking coal and
you'll see a kind of a shrinking

337
00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:24,440
of the relativities between the
premium stuff and the next year

338
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,560
down.
And I think you'll see India use

339
00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,480
more PCI.
So the relativities of PLV to

340
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,440
PCI are probably going to shrink
as well.

341
00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:36,160
I think Japan will probably
increase their PCI rates like

342
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,000
that's that's where I see the
pressure valve to the extent

343
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,680
that there is one being released
in the market now Semisoft

344
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,040
highball completely different
supply story.

345
00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,240
That's going to be kind of a
rough go, but I think for for a

346
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,720
year or two.
But once that gets resolved,

347
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,840
then then everything you know is
going to begin to move up

348
00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,400
commensurately with the with the
rest of the cycle.

349
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,920
So that there's a lot of hope on
this, this Indian narrative

350
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,160
playing out and a lot of people
have a bit of kind of stock in

351
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:06,000
it.
What do you, what do you keep

352
00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:11,040
your eyes on to just checking
that it's continuing to play out

353
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,800
as you've kind of forecast over
the past few years and as we

354
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,720
look forward.
I put out a chart, I try to do

355
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:19,760
it every couple of weeks or
whatever that just looks at

356
00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:23,960
Indian steel margins.
So I I, you know, take, you

357
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,000
know, POV Med coal and whatever
the current shipping rates are

358
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,560
to Indian, we just deliver it to
a fictitious plan and then run a

359
00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,200
cost stack off of that and see
what their margin is.

360
00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:35,480
When the margins have been
deeply negative or or you know,

361
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,680
are inflecting to the downside
that has for the last year or so

362
00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,040
indicated that we're going to
have a rough go of the next sort

363
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,760
of few months.
And vice versa.

364
00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:51,000
When steel prices allow, you
know, Indians to go into the

365
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,880
market and and pick up and
actually pick up tons at

366
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,480
reasonable prices, then the
cycle goes the other way.

367
00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,840
So really that's what I'm kind
of using as an on off lever.

368
00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:03,840
And, you know, we're writing
about it on on the

369
00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,360
coaltrader.com,
thecoaltrader.substack.com.

370
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,240
As often as we can.
But that's like, for me, that's

371
00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:13,520
the bellwether now is what, what
is the health of India's steel

372
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,360
industry right now?
It's OK.

373
00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:19,960
You know, last year was pretty
bad.

374
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,520
We, we've, we've graduated from
bad to OK.

375
00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,440
But as we see it in the, you
know, the Coca-Cola stock

376
00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,200
prices, when you go from
terrible to less bad, that's

377
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:29,920
usually where you get the
highest beta, right?

378
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,040
That, that's really interesting
because if we, if we look back

379
00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,960
the last 10 or 20 years and, and
I'm pretty green here, so I'm

380
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,880
really curious to hear what you
have to say.

381
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,760
The, the Chinese steel sector
has not always been the most

382
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,440
profitable.
It's, it's waxed and waned, but

383
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,520
there's been some atrocious
years of, of profitability for

384
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,520
the, for the steel makers out
of, out of China.

385
00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,800
But on the whole, if we look
back over the last 2020 odd

386
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,520
years, it has grown quite
phenomenally to to the point you

387
00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,920
made before where it's kind of
plateaued recently.

388
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:03,440
So is that different in India
for for the dynamics of how the

389
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,080
the industries come up come
about?

390
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,720
That's a good question.
I'm not quite sure how to answer

391
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,440
that to be fair.
But what I would say is that,

392
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:20,840
you know, when I look back on
China, we used to, you know, I

393
00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,800
think when I, when I started
forecasting on my own, you know,

394
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,360
not, not a part of Wood McKenzie
or, or working on the equity

395
00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:32,680
side.
You know, one of the things that

396
00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:37,280
I sort of looked at was I want
to say the average margin at a

397
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,400
Chinese mill over like 10 years
when I started doing this in

398
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,760
2021 was like 4 dollars, $4.00
of EBITDA.

399
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,960
That's before everything else.
So it was clear that China was,

400
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,720
you know, basically running
their steel mills at a cost

401
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:57,560
center to fuel domestic growth.
When I look at II kind of likes

402
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,400
to make money.
So I don't think they're going

403
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,640
to look the same as a command
economy going forward.

404
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,840
They have a much freer markets,
obviously, you know, much more

405
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,880
kind of geopolitically aligned
with the West.

406
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:14,120
And so I think what you'll see
in India is more typical cycle

407
00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:16,000
fits and starts.
It's not going to be an engine

408
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,920
that goes, you know, 100 miles
an hour at a constant speed

409
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,600
when, when the steelmaker start
to hurt from profitability

410
00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,360
perspective, you know, you'll,
they'll slow down.

411
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,480
They're more incentivized to, to
take those market cues than,

412
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,600
than the Chinese are, which
honestly, from an investment

413
00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:34,640
standpoint, I think that's a
good thing that benefits us

414
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,160
because then cycles do become a
little bit more predictable as

415
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,160
opposed to operating on the whim
of the next five year plan.

416
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,480
So I, I think that's going to be
by and large more profitable

417
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,080
for, for the investing side of
things as we go forward.

418
00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:53,960
Matt, you call Matt, you're a
cost curve guy.

419
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,320
And I, I'm just, I'm keen to
understand and appreciate how

420
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,280
cost curves have have evolved or
that what are the dynamics

421
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,600
amongst those kind of cost
curves like say, say the changes

422
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:09,800
in the last like 4 years?
Well, most of the changes have

423
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:14,520
occurred on the on twofold.
Well, one is on the mining side,

424
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,440
we've had a lot of Labor cost
inflation around the globe.

425
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,720
I think that's, you know, it's
maybe not exactly uniform from

426
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,800
country to country, but that has
been a theme in order to

427
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,960
incentivize, you know, men and
women to go work in these

428
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,720
industries, you have to pay them
a wage that encourages it.

429
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:38,720
And that's, that's that's been
the reality certainly in where I

430
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,960
come from in West Virginia.
You know, there's, there's no

431
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,240
love lost between, you know, the
people in the industry over the

432
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,040
years.
So if you want to, you know,

433
00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:51,680
bring a third generation, 4th
generation coal miner to work

434
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:56,000
after he's seen, you know, his
father and his grandfather, you

435
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,400
know, and they, and they saw
that his great grandfather go

436
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:00,680
through these, these employment
cycles.

437
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,160
It's a, it's a much tougher sell
than it used to be.

438
00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,320
You know, I think that probably
changes to some degree going

439
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,160
forward as we increase
automation within the industry.

440
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:17,000
I'm not, you know, on the on the
bleeding edge of equipment

441
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,000
development and those two
things, but I would I would

442
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,640
expect to see a pretty hefty
amount of automation if we have

443
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,520
this conversation in say, 10
years.

444
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:31,720
I went to a conference in
Pittsburgh early June and there

445
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,400
was a remote joy was running a
remote continuous minor

446
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,960
operator.
And it's like playing a video

447
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:38,680
game.
It's amazing.

448
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,240
But they're, they're what they
want to do is they want to have

449
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,760
people be able to sit at the
surface and run these machines

450
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,800
underground and then you just
send in, you know, essential

451
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,400
maintenance.
When we get to that point, I'm

452
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,960
not sure what the cost curve is
going to look like that if we

453
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:57,360
have that kind of Labor cost
deflation, is that offset by

454
00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,080
maintenance CapEx?
Is that offset by equipment

455
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,880
purchases?
Geological.

456
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,520
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's to be

457
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:11,360
determined over time.
But the the other, the other

458
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,760
cost increase in general has
been the the royalty side from

459
00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:18,200
the government side and that's
been entirely in Australia.

460
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:24,040
So if we see a reversal of that,
you know, sometime in the next

461
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,440
before the end of the decade, I
mean that will that would really

462
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,360
shift the top end of the cost
curve.

463
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:35,000
So, you know, we wouldn't be
able to, you know, have these

464
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,200
blow off numbers, I don't think
at all.

465
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,600
I think he'd probably put a cap
at like 300 and 5400 bucks and

466
00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,080
that would be the end of it.
So Matt's not at the forefront

467
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,080
of mining equipment
advancements.

468
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,080
Maybe we should introduce him to
Derek Hurd, because Derek Hurd

469
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,200
is at the forefront of mining
equipment advancements.

470
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,080
Sandvik Ground Support.
CSI.

471
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,920
It's, it's literally in their
DNA to bring R&D of ground

472
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,240
support to the industry via new
products every, it feels like

473
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,320
every week.
Right, 150 years they've been

474
00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:08,080
doing this for.
It's their bread and butter

475
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,000
innovation.
They're at the bleeding edge of

476
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,720
keeping mine workers safe.
Like 150 years.

477
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:14,480
It's crazy.
I don't even know mines have

478
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,920
been here for that long.
Even even longer mate, but as

479
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,880
long as you've got mines, you've
got to have them safe and that's

480
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,680
what Sandvik do.
And like like Matt said, they're

481
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,480
at the bleeding edge of ground
support, so if you've got an

482
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,280
underground mine in any
continent on the planet, they

483
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,560
can look after you mate.
Get in touch with Sandvik ground

484
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,280
support.
Derek Kurd will fix you up.

485
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,000
Go Sandvik.
So help me, help me just

486
00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:39,760
appreciate how you witnessed
this like the, the enormous kind

487
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,360
of royalty regime that was
introduced in, in, in Queensland

488
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:48,520
to a lesser part in, in, in New
South Wales that it's, it's like

489
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,320
morphed the cost curve with,
with those, with many of those

490
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,880
assets like lower half or upper
half.

491
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,360
And now I'm guessing it's just
it's lifted the kind of the

492
00:26:56,360 --> 00:27:00,960
floor to the benefit of of, you
know, X Australia Seabourn

493
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,440
producers who have been able to
capture greater margin at A at a

494
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:10,520
higher floor price.
So if we think about what the

495
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,560
marginal ton is, what the cost
of that mine is in the before

496
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,040
times when we were building out
the, the cost curve at Woodmac

497
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,760
for Matt, I would have said that
probably was somewhere in the

498
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,840
one 20s, which meant that you
would have had it, you know, for

499
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:27,840
any sort of two or three month
period.

500
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,840
You can, you know, spot price
can go down 25% below that.

501
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,000
People shut down operations and
it and it comes back up.

502
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,360
And I want to say that, you
know, in the last really

503
00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:44,120
terrible bear cycle, Metco
bottomed out in the low 90s.

504
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,680
So that kind of tracks that
number now I'm pretty sure is

505
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:55,960
about 16165, which used to be
the long term price assumption

506
00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:02,320
for for PLV.
So and you know, it, it also

507
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,800
makes the cost curve more
volatile from year to year.

508
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:09,680
So when you have these, these
blow off tops, Australia moves

509
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:14,240
to the, to the top of the curve
and the US stays steady.

510
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:18,920
So you have this like change
that that never used to have

511
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,680
never used to be in existence at
all.

512
00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:27,760
And if the, if the US is setting
the cost floor for the rest of

513
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,160
the world, well, I can guarantee
that's going to be pretty high.

514
00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:35,720
So there's, there's a lot of
tolerance for volatility when we

515
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,680
get up into those into the upper
stratosphere.

516
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,480
So, you know, All in all, we
were asked the question on the

517
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,800
podcast today.
Like, where do you think you

518
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:48,520
know what we get five years down
the road?

519
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,840
What's what'll, what'll have
been the average price?

520
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:58,000
And I remember I was I was
having dinner with Andy Edson

521
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,080
about two or three years ago,
and he asked me that question.

522
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,280
I said probably about 265.
You know, if you think of the

523
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:11,040
bottom AS160165 bucks and you
think of the, you know, the, the

524
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:14,280
peak of the market probably
without the, you know, a Russia,

525
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,960
Ukraine layered over top of it
is probably, you know, three,

526
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:20,280
5400.
If you kind of just go to the

527
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,680
mean, you're going to wind up at
about 252-6265.

528
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,760
And that's plenty for, you know,
a higher cost miner to make

529
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:33,600
money, make a 20% profit on top
of maintenance CapEx, whatever

530
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,880
logistics they have.
That to me is kind of where

531
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:41,640
prices have to be for POV to
just maintain the status quo.

532
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,000
If you can't do that and more
supply comes out, then that

533
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:49,200
number winds up being higher
until you know, till robots take

534
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,440
over the world.
Well, if robots take over the

535
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:58,880
world, I actually, there's this
AI paradox now, I think.

536
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:04,200
And it's, and it's the, the,
the, the reality is that

537
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:07,440
technological advancements now
require more fossil fuel as

538
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,280
opposed to becoming energy
dependent or relying on, on new

539
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:11,720
energy.
We actually need more fossil

540
00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:13,920
fuels as a result of the, the
latest technological

541
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:15,800
advancement.
So if robots take over the

542
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,320
world, I think we're still going
to need a ton more coal.

543
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:21,760
Yeah, if they're, if they even
plan to take over the world,

544
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:22,800
we're going to need a ton more
steel.

545
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:26,360
I'm not sure what I mean.
We're going to build those

546
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,160
robots out of aluminum that
that's another quandary we get

547
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:31,800
into.
So, yeah, there's, there's no,

548
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,200
you know, it's hard for me to
not to look at the next decade

549
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,360
and not think that, you know,
all the companies that that we

550
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,160
love and have been close to for
the last, you know, decade or so

551
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:45,000
are going to fare really well.
This is going to be a pretty,

552
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,040
pretty important transition, not
just for the industry, but I

553
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,120
think for, you know, for
humankind as well.

554
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,040
The last time we had you on the
show, we were we were speaking

555
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:57,360
about M&A and consolidation in
this, in this space with the

556
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,800
Peabody deal that ultimately
fell through.

557
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,560
So if you do think ahead 10
years, is there, is there more,

558
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,960
is there less companies?
What does it kind of look like?

559
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,160
And in the near term, are there
deals playing in the back of

560
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,320
your mind?
It's interesting.

561
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,240
Well, somebody's going to have
to come in and take the Anglo

562
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:17,280
assets.
I'm not sure who is going to be

563
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,360
the best candidate for that.
You know, I would have said BHP

564
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,720
a while ago, but you know, now
that Anglo is sort of, you know,

565
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,640
engaged, I'm not sure what
that's going to look like on

566
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:35,360
down the road.
You know, I think in the US

567
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,280
we'll have some consolidation
over time.

568
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:43,200
I think, you know, companies I
think Core probably wants to

569
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,400
acquire.
I would venture to guess over

570
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:52,800
time, I would, I wouldn't be
surprised if AMR or Warrior both

571
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:57,880
were interested in acquiring.
But I think at the at the crux

572
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,480
of the question is everybody
needs more low Vol.

573
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,760
And that's what we're going to
need to, you know, see people

574
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:09,720
invest in, you know, whether
that's low Vol PCI, second tier,

575
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:16,160
hard cooking, coal premium mid
Vol, you know, PCI like all we

576
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,880
need all of the above and
there's not enough of it in the

577
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:24,560
market to sustain it.
So, you know, I, I think M&A

578
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,080
makes sense.
I think we, we will see somebody

579
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,240
come in and eventually restart a
lot of these mines that have

580
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:32,760
that have been shut down here
recently.

581
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,520
But you know, who's going to
lead that capital cycle?

582
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,880
I wouldn't be surprised if it's
someone like Matt Lattimore.

583
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,360
I think think he's position
pretty well to, you know, to

584
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,920
make a move here in the next
during the next cycle at some

585
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,960
point the cold.
Tycoon of this cycle,

586
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:57,800
undoubtedly.
Yeah, for sure the II is going

587
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,600
to be very involved, yeah.
I imagine a bunch will pop out

588
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,880
of Glen Tinto if if that deal
eventually, I'd still be plenty

589
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:06,960
of plenty of divestments
subsequent to that deal.

590
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,880
Yeah, and we're talking about
maybe a coal spin out of the

591
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,320
Glen Tinto deal as well.
I'm here for that.

592
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:18,680
Give that to me all day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

593
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:24,480
Let's let's talk about Lattimore
briefly because a recent, a

594
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:29,400
recent deal that that they did
do was acquire Illawarra out of

595
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:30,960
S 32.
Do you think that will come back

596
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:32,560
to market in some way, shape or
form?

597
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,840
Do you think they'll yeah,
that'll that'll find like a

598
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,920
public vehicle?
Public vehicle.

599
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:41,880
That's a good question.
I don't necessarily know the

600
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:47,480
answer to that, but I think it
would, it would make sense

601
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:50,680
especially if he were able to,
you know, tack on a few other

602
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:56,120
acquisitions as well.
So I saw they had the they had

603
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,200
an incident up there at some
point in time here recently.

604
00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,920
I'm not sure what the, what the
current status is of those

605
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:06,000
operations, but the, the, the
message I think is pretty clear

606
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,760
is that if you're operating in
Australia, an economy of scale

607
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:13,679
will do you really well.
I mean, BH PS been able to

608
00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:15,960
weather those, those production
storms because they have a

609
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,120
pretty big portfolio of assets.
And I think that's, you know,

610
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,280
that's that's the case as well.
It's like if you're a single

611
00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,960
asset, producers have been, you
know, very exposed to these

612
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,159
price cycles in the past.
So you need to get it that

613
00:34:29,159 --> 00:34:34,320
critical, you know, 345, you
know, operations and preferably

614
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:38,120
as many as you can in the
premium segment as well in order

615
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:43,560
to be I think guaranteed a, you
know, a throne in the next, in

616
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,920
the next cycle.
That's actually, I'm glad you

617
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:49,080
mentioned BHP because that's,
that's we heard a rumor like I

618
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:54,080
want to say October last year
that yeah, BHP would was likely

619
00:34:54,080 --> 00:35:00,640
to to evaluate a divestment of
BMA by the calendar end of

620
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:02,400
calendar year 26.
Do you think there's that's

621
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,000
Johnson?
So do you think, do you think

622
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,600
that might hold up if, if the
royalty regime in Queensland

623
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:11,720
stays where it is?
I don't think that's out of the

624
00:35:11,720 --> 00:35:14,320
question at all.
I mean, it would they kind of

625
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:18,000
signaled that they want to line
that down to some degree in the

626
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:24,680
past and you know what the right
price, especially with those

627
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,440
remaining reserves.
Like do you want to carry that

628
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:30,240
operating risk on through
another capital cycle for them

629
00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:33,720
when they have, you know, bigger
fish to fry elsewhere?

630
00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:35,880
It's a good question.
I wouldn't be surprised to see

631
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,120
it change hands at some point in
time or maybe not all of it, but

632
00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:43,960
one or two targeted mines over
over a period of time or

633
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,080
alternately they acquire
something and then spin it out.

634
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:48,560
I think that would be pretty
reasonable as well.

635
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,800
Excuse our Australian bias, but
you know we're just going to

636
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,800
keep talking about Australian
coal companies that but.

637
00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:00,200
Well, like on that point, Trev,
in the context of bombastin and,

638
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:04,040
and the fact that there's next
to no new mines coming online,

639
00:36:04,720 --> 00:36:07,960
given the, the, the high quality
nature and the, the strategic

640
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,160
placement of, of the assets and
the, you know, the shackles they

641
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,920
have with the royalty regime,
you'd have to think it'd be,

642
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:20,400
it'd be kind of appealing with,
you know, the, you know, as an

643
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,240
option type play with the idea
that maybe the royalties roll

644
00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:25,440
off in a, in a few years time.
That could be something that's

645
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,600
that's pretty interesting
depending on on prices you put

646
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:32,720
it there.
Yeah, if the royalty regime went

647
00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:38,120
back to the before times, let's
say in five years.

648
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,680
That won't happen.
No, not not while state like

649
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:45,560
Queensland state debt just
explodes exponentially faster

650
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:46,640
than the.
Royalty revenue?

651
00:36:46,640 --> 00:36:49,680
Oh, easy.
That's that's true.

652
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,800
That's true, yeah.
But let's let's say they they

653
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:57,240
use all of them back then.
Yeah, I mean, that's a call

654
00:36:57,240 --> 00:36:59,600
option on whatever purchase it
is that you make, right.

655
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,960
You can't necessarily work that
into the you know, you could

656
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:05,720
write it in as a scenario in
terms of a potential valuation,

657
00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:09,800
but without, you know, without
any, you know, guarantee of of

658
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:11,400
whether or not that's going to
happen, I don't think you can

659
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:15,040
pay for it.
It's, you know, you can maybe

660
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:19,160
use it to justify, you know, an
additional 5, 10% upside or

661
00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:21,680
something like that, but.
The structure of those royalties

662
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:24,120
was, was mental as well, because
it was designed to kind of

663
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,480
capture this super profit
period, but but at these fixed

664
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:31,240
price levels.
And so like, you know, it became

665
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:34,640
increasingly onerous at the
above certain fixed kind of like

666
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,360
prices, right.
And and now with just the, the

667
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:41,040
event of inflation, it, it, it
completely just erodes any, any

668
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,760
ability for these businesses to
have any margin over time,

669
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:46,960
right.
You would think so, but at the

670
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,840
same time, you know, the US is
doing a really outstanding job

671
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:52,480
of torching the dollar here at
the moment.

672
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:59,640
And and yeah, right.
I mean, the, the, the Australian

673
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:03,840
U.S. dollar crossed 70 for the
first time and God knows how

674
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:04,800
long.
It's been a while.

675
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:09,000
And at least when I run my
models, that's the difference in

676
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:13,960
price there is about plus $5 on,
you know, on long term forecast

677
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:18,280
for a, for met coal.
But the other thing it does is

678
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:23,000
it, I mean, if it'll say if the,
if the Aussie dollar went back

679
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:27,160
to parity, like where it was,
you know, during the last, you

680
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:30,400
know, during the first coal boom
that I went through, well that

681
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,320
that takes away a lot of the,
the upside for royalties.

682
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,640
You know, if we get back up to
300 four, $100 and we're saying

683
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:39,880
that's the Max that, you know,
these other countries, steel,

684
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,560
steel industries can handle.
Well, if that's only 300 or 400

685
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,080
Aussie dollars at the same time,
that's not quite as big of a hit

686
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:52,240
that the government will get.
So, you know, the, the US hasn't

687
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:56,280
has a, you know, sort of a what
is that a tertiary role to play

688
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,960
in, in, in how that pans out
over time.

689
00:39:01,240 --> 00:39:05,360
So, and that and, you know,
speaking, you know, solely from

690
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:08,760
from perspective over here, it
ain't stopping during this

691
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,960
presidency.
There is a 0% chance that we

692
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:17,920
will stop hemorrhaging money, I
think over the next three years.

693
00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:22,360
And, and I'm not sure that the,
you know, even in the event of,

694
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:26,000
you know, Democrats taking over
the Senate and us returning to

695
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:29,600
gridlock or God forbid, you
know, whoever the, the next to

696
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:32,200
the next Democratic president
is, we're, we're going to have

697
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:37,120
different, different versions of
the same problem until something

698
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:41,080
breaks here in the US.
So I, I think, I think we're

699
00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:45,000
kind of at the beginning of a,
of a currency cycle that is way

700
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,560
above my pay grade, but
something that I think all of us

701
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:50,760
will have to pay very close
attention to over the coming

702
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,200
five years.
Because what if, if I can change

703
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:57,560
the value of the currency by 10%
and that changes the METCO price

704
00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:00,560
by $5, What happens if we change
it by 30%?

705
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:06,880
That's that's kind of where, you
know, I have to take off my

706
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:10,320
analyst hat and just go.
I don't know what's going to

707
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:11,600
happen here at this point in
time.

708
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,320
So most of what we can do is
just take the, the, the, the

709
00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,800
variables that we have, plug
them into the model and solve

710
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,200
for X.
And when we start mucking around

711
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:23,960
with the variables, you know,
that's a pretty wide range of

712
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:27,880
outcomes for, for everything.
So it's a, it's why I hate

713
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:29,160
politics, man.
It's so fun.

714
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,680
When you plug those variables
into your models.

715
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:36,720
Man, I'm just, I'm, I'm keen to
depict how you know, your

716
00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:40,200
relative preference of, of the,
of the cold stocks we're

717
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,840
familiar with by, by, you know,
relative to their current price.

718
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,040
You know, I think just just if
you could like order names like

719
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:52,480
Stanmore, Yankel, Whitehaven,
that that'd be wonderful.

720
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,040
I mean, I think, I think
Stanmore is criminally

721
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:58,920
undervalued down here.
Yeah, I'm just looking at

722
00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:02,360
trailing EV to EBITDA, which
isn't the best metric, but it's

723
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,160
what I have in front of me.
And you know, Whitehaven's up

724
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:09,640
at, you know, 5 and a 5.3 and
then Stanmore's at 3.8.

725
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,720
That's just wrong.
And then, you know, in the US,

726
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:17,280
you know, on the Mets side, you
know, Alpha's at 5.5 should be,

727
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:19,360
shouldn't Whitehaven get the US
multiple?

728
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:24,160
It should absolutely, you know,
get get something comparable, I

729
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,440
think in those Warriors at 7.9.
I mean, come on, guys, White

730
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:32,640
Whitehaven's as big a global
player and just as important to

731
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,800
to the global industry and in
more diverse.

732
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,000
Yeah, like let's let's get those
numbers up.

733
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,560
Those are rookie numbers.
Well, you can, you can thank

734
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:43,160
Aussie Super.
I think they're they're helping

735
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:45,840
the cause and buying Whitehaven
stock again so.

736
00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:48,760
I mean, it's been on a hater
like it's nearly doubled in the

737
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,880
in the last, I don't know, 12
months or something like that.

738
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:55,120
So yeah, quietly, quietly
finding popularity.

739
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,120
And that's like that, you know,
I mentioned Aussie Super by

740
00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:00,800
Whitehaven again, but there's,
there's absolutely this kind of

741
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,640
evolution in global capital
allocation.

742
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:07,680
You know, Black Rocks had many
iterations of its ESG influence

743
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:09,920
on the world.
And, and we're now in ESG 4

744
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:14,960
point O era, which is, is the,
the realization that that these

745
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:18,160
businesses are incredibly
important to our prosperity and

746
00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:22,200
that they shouldn't have been so
punitive in in their their their

747
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:24,720
ways of restricting capital
flows into these businesses

748
00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:26,880
previously it.
Matters tremendously for the

749
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:29,760
cost of capital.
Hey, Matt, like the the change

750
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:32,240
in debt that these guys are
playing like you've probably got

751
00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:34,120
more, more boots on the ground,
so to speak.

752
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:36,240
It's cheap again.
Yeah, you can get, you can get

753
00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:37,560
really cheap debt as a coal
company.

754
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:40,560
I mean, it was crazy high.
It was it was out of this world

755
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:42,320
high.
But I'm not sure what the latest

756
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:45,840
numbers on on debt packages for
the for the states companies

757
00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:48,880
that you're seeing are, but but
it's really pulled in over here.

758
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:52,720
I mean, you know, I don't think
it's out of the question to be

759
00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:56,280
able to go get an 8 1/2% coupon,
10% coupon somewhere around in

760
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:57,720
there.
And that was unheard of.

761
00:42:57,720 --> 00:42:59,120
Just a few.
Well, getting anything was

762
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:00,560
unheard of a few years ago.
Yeah.

763
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:05,520
And and and the Fed's rate, the
Fed's fund rate was, was next to

764
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:08,960
0 a few years ago as well.
And now we're whatever it is, 4%

765
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:10,280
or something.
Yeah.

766
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:12,560
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, you know, all these coal

767
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:14,960
companies which were, you know,
left for dead in the first part

768
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:17,440
of my career all have better
balance sheets than the United

769
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:18,800
States.
So God bless.

770
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,840
That is great.
Just wait for the United States

771
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:29,840
to nationalize them, then
they'll have bad balance sheets

772
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,000
again.
Never say never.

773
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,280
I yeah, I can see a scenario
where that that could play out.

774
00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:42,040
And but yeah, just looking down
the list, I mean, I think, I

775
00:43:42,040 --> 00:43:44,480
think New Hope is probably
pretty fairly valued here.

776
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:49,120
They've had a nice little, you
know, 13% up to to kind of catch

777
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:52,280
up with everybody else here the
last little bit.

778
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:58,800
Yanco had a nice 20% run last.
And then, yeah, Whitehaven's, I

779
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:00,960
mean, Whitehaven's going to take
out all time highs of this cycle

780
00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:02,480
and just keep going.
Yeah.

781
00:44:02,720 --> 00:44:06,120
So I, I pretty firmly believe in
that the, that we should see it

782
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:08,560
re rate higher up to sort of the
US guys at least.

783
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,240
And I want to see Stanmore get
up into the fives like that

784
00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:14,840
should be a $4.00 stock and I'll
see $4.00 stock at least.

785
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:19,560
Yeah, yeah.
And XASX names where you know

786
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:21,160
where.
What are your most favored

787
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:25,080
stocks at the moment?
I mean, I'm still pretty firmly

788
00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,120
on the Mets side.
You know, we're at the beginning

789
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,160
of this cycle here.
I want to be, you know, I'm not

790
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,600
fully sized in anything coal
right now, but I think maybe by

791
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:37,400
the time we get to the end of
shoulder season, end of June, I

792
00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:41,600
want, you know, at least, you
know, a 1520% basket, you know,

793
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:44,840
allocated across the MET sector,
which would include really in no

794
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:53,760
particular order, AMR Warrior,
HCC, Ramaco, METC, Whitehaven

795
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:57,840
and Stanmore, I think would be
and core natural resources shit.

796
00:44:57,840 --> 00:44:59,680
And Peabody, I don't have any
Peabody right now either.

797
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:01,960
So there's seven and they're all
fine.

798
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,960
Like, you know, it's, it's sort
of like pick your pick your

799
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:08,720
horse.
Peabody's interesting because

800
00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:10,680
we're, we're increasing low Vol
production.

801
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:13,280
We're going to have a pretty
good thermal cool year in the

802
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:15,000
Illinois Basin and the Powder
River Basin.

803
00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:19,200
You know, it's, it's already
completely come back to the

804
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,760
highs from, from the Anglo days
of yore.

805
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,680
But yeah, it's if they start
buying back, back stock,

806
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,880
especially there's, there's room
for that to sort of go higher as

807
00:45:30,880 --> 00:45:35,040
well.
So anyway, I'm, I've got, you

808
00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,760
know, I've got my calendar
circled for end of June and I

809
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:42,160
want to have, you know, a basket
of all these and which one's

810
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:46,760
going to be the highest
allocated at that time will kind

811
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:48,800
of depend on where we wind up in
the cycle.

812
00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:51,960
But, you know, right now, I
think you can make a case for,

813
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,560
you know, putting almost any of
those at the top at any one

814
00:45:55,560 --> 00:46:00,040
point, at any one point in time.
I mean, you know, Ramaco isn't

815
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,120
the isn't the biggest producer,
but they've got all the, you

816
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,640
know, the rare earth marketing
hype is that their gap is.

817
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:10,760
Is that what?
Is that what lured you in to

818
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,160
start talking about rare earth
as well, Matt, Was it?

819
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,400
Was it Ramaco?
It was, it was pretty clear that

820
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:21,120
if we want to have any sort of
basis in reality for

821
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:25,200
understanding what valuations
look like for now, keep in mind

822
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:28,920
Peabody and, and core natural
resources also have mines in the

823
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:32,360
PRB that will have, you know,
comparable, you know,

824
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:38,160
concentrations of, of, you know,
gallium and, and, you know,

825
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,920
light rare earths mostly, I
would figure Scandi and those

826
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:43,840
sorts of things.
And the US government is

827
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:46,480
currently writing checks at a
pretty alarming clip.

828
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:50,240
So yeah, that's, that's why I
had to start kind of digging in

829
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:54,400
and at least becoming familiar
enough with the sector that I

830
00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:58,160
could function a little bit.
And, you know, along the way it

831
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:04,360
sort of became really clear that
the, I mean, the, the oxide

832
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:05,760
really isn't the constraint
there.

833
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:10,640
It's metalization, you know,
it's, you know, SX processing

834
00:47:11,440 --> 00:47:13,480
metalization.
So those are the companies that

835
00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:16,280
that I probably want to focus on
more over the longer term

836
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:19,400
because like we don't have
anybody in the US who knows how

837
00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:21,800
to run any of these operations.
So we're going to have to

838
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:24,760
rebuild all the expertise we're
going to have to, you know,

839
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:28,160
import the technology we're
going to have to, you know, near

840
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:32,240
shore or friendly shore raw
material supply.

841
00:47:32,240 --> 00:47:37,120
Because like, other than MP, you
know, we have, you know, Round

842
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:42,840
Top is, you know, without a
processing facility located

843
00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:45,280
nearby, like would not be a mine
in and of itself.

844
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:50,240
You know, So it, it's the way
that I look at this is, there's,

845
00:47:50,240 --> 00:47:53,040
it's the West versus China and
the West is in the process of

846
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:55,280
aligning.
And that means, you know,

847
00:47:55,280 --> 00:47:58,160
partnerships between the US and
Australia, partnerships between

848
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:02,280
the US and Brazil.
It's just, you know, rally the

849
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:06,320
troops and let's, let's see if
we can, you know, create a, you

850
00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:10,800
know, downstream magnet
manufacturing industry that that

851
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:13,880
lies outside of China for the
first time in, you know, 30

852
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:15,360
years.
It's it's going to be group

853
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:19,000
effort, boys.
And do you have a first past

854
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:21,920
view on the, the stockpile
announcement that that came out

855
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:24,880
I think over overnight for us
here in, in Australia.

856
00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:29,280
But in a nutshell, Trump wanting
to to put together a $12 billion

857
00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:33,840
U.S. group of any witch meadows.
It wasn't exactly clear.

858
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,160
Pretty pretty light on details.
Yeah.

859
00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:39,960
I mean, I think Samarium
Europium, I think those were

860
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:43,760
kind of two at the at the top
end of the want spectrum, at

861
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:47,880
least from what I understand.
But yeah, like that also that

862
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,440
comes on the heel of that
Reuters article last week, which

863
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:53,480
absolutely rug pulled the whole
sector.

864
00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:56,880
Yeah, it was edited.
Yeah, it was edited like 4 times

865
00:48:56,880 --> 00:48:58,560
to the point where it was like
why?

866
00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:00,040
Why did you even write the that
was?

867
00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:02,840
Such good entertainment.
What like MP materials?

868
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,800
Twitter.
Handle Yeah, shout out to MP

869
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:09,600
materials, social media.
That was the most fun thing I've

870
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:13,040
read in a long time.
The but it's, you know, it just

871
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:16,000
absolutely punished most of
those companies for no real

872
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:18,440
reason.
And then the announcement that

873
00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:20,560
we're going to build these
stockpiles just basically proves

874
00:49:20,560 --> 00:49:21,960
it.
Like there's there's more than

875
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:24,880
one way that that Trump can
implement tariffs.

876
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:27,760
You know, there's more than one
way that we can set floor

877
00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:31,000
prices.
Like there's, you know, I I

878
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:34,240
understand that it's news.
And like, if you go out and you

879
00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:36,480
have somebody give that quote to
you in your journals, you got to

880
00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:38,080
print it.
Absolutely.

881
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,640
But you should at least do the
product of work to understand

882
00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:43,520
that even if this happens, are
there other avenues to get

883
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:44,720
there?
And that's kind of what I

884
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:48,800
thought that they failed to do.
Like markets are complex and if

885
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:52,880
there's demand for something, it
will find a way and it will show

886
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:55,520
up on it, you know, in price,
whether you wanted to or not.

887
00:49:55,840 --> 00:50:00,640
They're very funny like that.
So anyway, that's that's my take

888
00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:03,520
As to as to how that progresses,
I don't know, but it was it was

889
00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:05,800
a nice bookend to the
shenanigans from last week.

890
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,480
Totally, Totally.
I mean, for all the complexity,

891
00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:12,160
the fact that one Reuters
article can shake the market

892
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:15,320
like that is, yeah, entertaining
if anything.

893
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:18,960
All the paper hands over here in
the US good and.

894
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:23,280
That's not us at all.
Those are rookie numbers.

895
00:50:24,640 --> 00:50:28,640
That's an absolute delight to
speak with you about all things

896
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:31,120
Cole.
As always, look forward to yeah,

897
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:33,680
you being accompanied by your
partner Joe next time that

898
00:50:33,720 --> 00:50:36,400
you're you grace us with your
presence on our on our channel.

899
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:39,440
But thank you so much.
Thanks for having me, guys.

900
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:41,400
It's so wonderful to get to talk
to you every time.

901
00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:44,160
And absolutely, we'll bring a
guest here next time so that I

902
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:47,280
can wax, so we can wax more
poetic about the thermal coal

903
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:48,680
side.
Look forward to it.

904
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:49,800
Have a good one, Matt.
Thank you.

905
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,160
There we go, mate.
What a pleasure as always

906
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:55,200
speaking with Matt Water, you
can check out his fantastic work

907
00:50:55,240 --> 00:50:59,280
on sub stack at the coal trader
and he's also got the the rare

908
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:00,960
earth trader.
He puts out a bunch of work

909
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:02,000
there.
Super insightful.

910
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,520
So go check that out and all
made possible thanks to our

911
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:07,000
fantastic partners.
Standard ground support focus,

912
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:08,800
the platform by market tech.
You would have seen some of the

913
00:51:08,800 --> 00:51:12,120
charts in the show there
Interlinks and Exceed Capital

914
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:16,160
Puduru, Puduru.
Now remember, I'm an idiot.

915
00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:18,920
JD is an idiot.
If you thought any of this was

916
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:21,440
anything other than
entertainment, you're an idiot

917
00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:22,960
and you need to read out
disclaimer.