Australian Iron Ore

Stock analyst UBS hosted nine ASX listed iron ore companies from Western Australia at their inaugural Iron Ore Seminar in Sydney and Melbourne on 13 March 2007. The companies that presented were: Murchison Metals (MMX), Mt Gibson (MGX), Midwest Corp (MIS), Gindalbie Metals (GBG), Sphere Investments (SPH), Grange Resources (GRR), FerrAus (FRS), Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) and Atlas Iron (AGO). The analyst thinks that all of the iron ore companies have ggressive growth targets and are confident of reaching their goals. Management highlighted that infrastructure constraints and booming demand from China has provided opportunities for smaller companies to develop new and potentially large scale projects. The general consensus was that the outlook for iron ore remains very strong, underpinned by growing Chinese steel production. It was noted by FMG that for the last 5 years, the actual iron ore price change has been greater than analysts forecasts. With the growing production in the Pilbara, port congestion could become an issue even for BHP. The analyst notes that FMG, Ferraus, Atlas Iron, as well as Cape Lambert (who did not present) all intend to develop iron ore assets in the North-West and export through Port Hedland.