Clive Palmer forced to correct $70 billion coal deal boast

ive Palmer, the Queensland-based mining baron who appears set to claim the mantle as Australia’s richest entrepreneur, has been forced into an embarrassing back down after a Chinese company denied it had signed a $70 billon coal supply deal with Palmer’s company.

Resourcehouse, which is owned by Palmer, announced on the weekend that it had signed a 20-year agreement to supply 30 million tonnes of coal to a Chinese energy firm, China Power International Development (CPID).

But yesterday a Chinese State-owned media agency carried reports that CPID had denied it had ever done such a deal with Resourcehouse.

Palmer was forced to admit he got it wrong and mixed up the name of the company he actually dealt with.

“The earlier release stated China First Pty Ltd had entered into a coal sales agreement with China Power International Development Limited, ” Palmer said in a statement.

“This was wrong as the agreement had not been entered into with China Power International Development Limited but with China Power International Holding Limited.”

Questions have also been raised about whether the deal is actually worth $US60 billion as Palmer claimed on the weekend, particularly as coal prices are currently falling.

Resourcehouse says the figure was its own estimate, rather than a concrete value.

“Resourcehouse has estimated the cumulative value of any coal sales made under the agreement to be in the order of $US60 billion considering market prices across the life of the agreement,” a company statement announced.

The embarrassing incident has not come at a great time for Palmer, who is trying to float Resourcehouse on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The float has been delayed a number of times and while the announcement of a 20-year supply deal would have given his float plans a boost, the confusion over who exactly it was signed with doesn’t look good.