CANBERRA Tony Moloney needed no convincing to move his family last year to Mount Isa, an Australian mining town 18 hours by car from the nearest big city. Posted on 04/06/2005 5:14:58 PM PDT by M. Espinola
CANBERRA Tony Moloney needed no convincing to move his family last year to Mount Isa, an Australian mining town 18 hours by car from the nearest big city.
His employer, Xstrata, can afford to pay him twice the average national wage at its Mount Isa copper mine as sales to China surge. . "We moved here because the job opportunities were full-on and the town is booming," says Moloney, a father of two who earns 108,000 Australian dollars, or $83,446, a year as a plumber at Xstrata's Mount Isa mining complex.
The Moloneys bought a 200,000 dollar house in the town, where property values have surged 40 percent and the population has grown 28 percent in two years.
Xstrata and BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, are investing in Australian mines to meet rising Chinese demand for copper, iron ore and other commodities.
Based in Zug, Switzerland, Xstrata has added 750 workers at its Mount Isa copper mine in Queensland state in the past 18 months, and invested 115 million dollars last year to expand in the area. Hiring by mining companies has helped Australia's jobless rate fall to 5.1 percent, a 28-year low.
Australian copper exports to China rose 30 percent last year to 1.6 billion dollars. The nation's nickel sales to China surged 88 percent, iron ore shipments gained 41 percent and coal exports rose 72 percent.
Australia is the world's biggest exporter of coal and aluminum and the No. 2 exporter of iron and nickel ore.
The mining boom alone cannot spur an economic rebound as rising interest rates deter consumer spending, says Stephen Koukoulas, chief Asian strategist at TD Securities in Sydney.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
No worries, mate.
Indeed, they have quite a labor shortage in some areas.
Well good on em' and all that. But I daresay mining is a fickle mistress and if it was me I would prefer to make do with a well appointed double-wide for a few years rather than plunk down for a $230,000 house. This prosperity hinges on the current market price for the minerals in question which hinges on chinese demand, which hinges on long-term chinese prosperity, and they have some monstrous fiscal, environmental and demographic bills coming due in the next few years.
America isn't the only frontier nation with its share of ghost towns. Does anyone remember the neatly laid out abandoned modern development in the middle of the outback with only a half-mad caretaker in residence that our lost waifs stumble upon as they make their way back to civilization towards the end of Nicholas Roeg's 1971 film "Walkabout?"
In the world of traded commodities, (dramatic cost booms in natural resources) I would like to point to the incredible supply driven panic price run-up for Palladium in the year 2000-2001. Palladium's incredible sudden leap in price from under $200 per ounce, then rocketing to a staggering $1,100 and crashing back below $200 is one of the best examples for exercising caution in ultra-bullish commodity markets.
Note: Palladium, together with platinum and rhodium, are primary components in autocatalysts that reduce vehicle exhausts emissions of hydro-carbons, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulate.
Nothing soars forever. Economic gravity sets in eventually.
Most especially fickle when the value of said mineral is dependent upon a particular industry which is dependant upon a line in a particular piece of legislation...
Which is why I could never blithely say "To hell with Washington! Those idiots have nothing to do with me!"
Oooh! Ohh1 Is this like DEADWOOD? Is this a Deadwood in Australia? I hope they have a Swearinger there to kick all their asses into place!
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