About Met coal production expansion. If prices stay where they are, won't these companies be able to finance growth with retained earnings? Is institutional capital really needed? Maybe HCC has an additional hurdle of waiting for strike resolution clarity before resuming the Blue Creek project.
They may be able to finance production growth but they won't go that route, it's not what shareholders want and they've been burned too many times the last couple of cycles. There's not many new mines coming online from the big boys.. some of the less well capitalized players are attempting to add marginal production but I don't really see them as being successful, there's too many labor and capital constraints. The institutional capital would simply allow the producers to refinance debt - I mean, can you imagine having to self-finance because banks won't lend to you anymore? If you knew that was happening you'd be in a rush to be debt free.
Re HCC, I don't think there's a resolution coming. I think they're trying to bust the union and they're making a good go of it right now. Blue Creek is a push, maybe 3-4 years from now depending on where we are in the cycle.
About Met coal production expansion. If prices stay where they are, won't these companies be able to finance growth with retained earnings? Is institutional capital really needed? Maybe HCC has an additional hurdle of waiting for strike resolution clarity before resuming the Blue Creek project.
They may be able to finance production growth but they won't go that route, it's not what shareholders want and they've been burned too many times the last couple of cycles. There's not many new mines coming online from the big boys.. some of the less well capitalized players are attempting to add marginal production but I don't really see them as being successful, there's too many labor and capital constraints. The institutional capital would simply allow the producers to refinance debt - I mean, can you imagine having to self-finance because banks won't lend to you anymore? If you knew that was happening you'd be in a rush to be debt free.
Re HCC, I don't think there's a resolution coming. I think they're trying to bust the union and they're making a good go of it right now. Blue Creek is a push, maybe 3-4 years from now depending on where we are in the cycle.