Thursday, June 3, 2010

Welcome to South America, Xstrata Copper

Under the title "Xstrata Halts Spending on A$6.6Bn of Projects", the copper company via Bloomie makes it clear that it's not going to hang in Oz if that gov't insists on this weirdo 40% windfall tax on profits. Later we hear from a stuffed suit in London....
“Capital, rather than being spent in Australia, can be spent in the company’s operations in other countries,” Charles Kernot, an analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd. in London, said by phone today. “If it can accelerate development of other projects, that may help offset these delays.”

.....and for once your humble scribe agrees with a brokerage-bound anal yeast, because it doesn't take a rocket surgeon (or brain scientist for that matter) to work out that if Xstrata bails on spending down under next stop is the altogether finer region known as South America....just check out the company's roster of projects if you don't believe this humble corner of cyberspace. So for those who need further clues here's a tune dedicated to them crazy Swiss miners, to their followers and to....errr....owners of neighbour plays. DYODD, dude.



PS: whatever happened to Lou Diamond Phillips, anyway?