Ground Breakers: Gold crunched, market strangely indifferent, Thiess wraps up MACA and DBI amps up coal charges

Gold drops 1.1% to US$1668/oz overnight, investors shrug their shoulders
MACA enters Thiess fold after mega contractor hits compulsory acquisition threshold
Dalrymple Bay to up returns to investors after inking deal to lift terminal charges for coal miners

Gold prices fell over 1% last night to US$1668/oz, inking a fourth straight loss as investors backed away from the yellow metal amid concerns the fiscal belt will tighten further in the States.

“Yields are up around the world today and that’s going to be further pressuring gold. A move back below $1,700 on Friday is another worrying move which could wipe out any enthusiasm generated during the late-September, early-October rally,” OANDA senior market analyst Craig Erlam said.

ANZ’s Catherine Birch said in a note to clients that gold backers were liquidating ETF holdings, with 95,000oz leaving the sector on Friday, with the only saving grace increased demand from the Asian market due to the lower prices.

It comes after the metal soared early last week to over US$1700/oz.

While gold miners were slammed yesterday the Aussie market has opened with a cold indifference to fundamentals, with the All Ordinaries Gold sub-index up a line ball 0.05%.

Battery metals were up and running, with Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), Allkem (ASX:AKE) and IGO (ASX:IGO), and Lynas (ASX:LYC) all green, while graphite miner Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) lifted by close to 5% after announcing a pathway to restart its Balama mine in Mozambique following a labour dispute.

The major iron ore miners also lifted as prices enjoyed a tidy bump from restocking at steel mills following China’s National Day holiday.

Ground Breakers share prices today:

Say goodbye to MACA

After a hotly contested takeover tussle which thrust mining services stocks into the spotlight, MACA (ASX:MLD) is all sold up.

Thiess, which had to work long and hard to beat out competition from NRW Holdings (ASX:NRW) and convince minority shareholders at the WA mining services company to accept a $1.075 per share, will move to compulsorily acquire the rest of the shares it doesn’t already own after achieving a relevant interest of 91.48%.

The move will give Thiess, one of the world’s biggest mining contractors primarily focused on coal on the east coast of Australia, access to a major civil and mining contractor in the booming WA mining and construction market.

The worm turned after Thiess made its bid unconditional late last month before achieving its 50% control target and is the latest example of consolidation in the sector in recent years.

MACA (ASX:MLD) share price today:

Dalrymple Bay cashes in on coal boom

Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure (ASX:DBI) owns one of the world’s largest coal terminals in Hay Point, Queensland.

But while coal prices have gone through the roof in recent times, delivering record profits to coal miners, there has been little growth in actual coal production.

That means DBI, which charges users on a per tonne basis, hasn’t quite seen the benefits the way those producers have.

Today it says it has reached an agreement for a new ten year agreement which will increase the Terminal Infrastructure Charge for users by 23% and 28% respectively to $3.02/t and $3.18/t in FY22 and FY23, with prices to escalate annually for inflation.

An additional $61m will be back paid by DBCT users from July 1 2021 to September 30 this year, which means a fatter dividend cheque for investors, who unsurprisingly sent DBI shares 7% higher and then some this morning.

DBI expects the dividend for this year to total 20.1cps in quarterly distributions, 10% higher than FY22.

“The successful completion of the commercial negotiations with our customers under the light-handed regulatory framework approved by the Queensland Competition Authority in 2021 is great news for all stakeholders,” DBI MD and CEO Anthony Timbrell said.

“The agreements are the result of a comprehensive negotiation process and the first to be settled under the new negotiate-arbitrate regime. DBI would like to take this opportunity to thank all its customers for their patience and constructive approach to discussions over recent months.”