Business Markets

Fortescue Metals Group has announced a maiden iron ore reserve estimate of 716 million tonnes (Mt) for the first stage of its Solomon Hub in Western Australia.

The reserve includes Brockman fines of 314Mt and CID fines of 402Mt in a style for which well established markets exist in Asia.

“The reserve was estimated from a measured and indicated resource of 858Mt and a subsequent in-pit inventory of 795Mt which in turn converted at 90 per cent to the estimate figure,” Perth-based Fortescue said in a statement.

Fortescue chief operating officer Nev Power said the reserve underwrote the development at Solomon to support a 60Mt per annum mine plan.

“As further drilling is undertaken and considering the low strip ratio and operating costs, the company expects this Reserve number to double over time,” Mr Power said.

An independent mine study identified the Solomon Hub as a low cost operation with a cash cost of $A20 to $A25 a tonne.

Fortescue shares declined four cents to $6.45 by 1223 AEST. Read full post…

Sales managers are devoting too much time to late stage sales meetings and ‘firefighting’ to save deals at the expense of vital early stage opportunities, according to a new survey of 1409 sales managers, marketing executives and general managers.

The survey by Huthwaite Asia Pacific revealed only 26% of sales managers’ time is dedicated to early stage opportunities, which provide the greatest chance to influence the course of a sale.
Huthwaite Managing Partner, Adam Thorp said the survey showed these all-important early meetings were often being overlooked in favour of late-stage meetings to close deals (18%) and ‘firefighting’ to save deals (10.2%).

Initial meetings with potential buyers offer sales teams the best opportunity to create value and influence sales, but for many companies the language of management is too strongly focused on closing deals,” said Thorp.

Sales teams are asked questions such as: When is the deal going to close? When are we

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NEW YORK, May 17 (UPI) — Crude oil prices moved close to $98 per barrel Tuesday in New York as oil prices rebounded modestly from nearly two weeks of declines.

The New York Federal Reserve said Monday its headline index measuring Empire State manufacturing showed slower growth in May than in April. On Tuesday, the Department of Commerce said the number of building permits issued and home construction starts in April both fell, dropping 4 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively, compared with March.

Crude oil, however, found support from a weaker dollar. The dollar index, a prorated measure of the dollar against six major currencies, dropped 0.19 percent Tuesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, June delivery West Texas Intermediate crude oil added 95 cents to reach $97.86 per barrel. Home heating oil prices gained 3.65 cents to $2.8816 per gallon.

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A new study released by ExactTarget and CoTweet found the top reason for ‘un-liking’ a brand on Facebook was too many posts with 44 per cent of U.S consumers agreeing to ‘un-like’ a page if the company posted too frequently.

The study also found 38 per cent of consumers would ‘un-like’ a brand if the content was becoming repetitive or boring over time and 26 per cent said they only ‘liked’ a company to take advantage of a one-time offer.

The Social Break-Up is a body of work based on the responses of more than 1,500 consumers, which identifies how people are changing their online behaviours. It is the first of its kind — a study that sets aside theories, assumptions, and widely-held beliefs to find out how consumers want to interact with brands through Facebook and other social media.

63 per cent of respondents are likely to continue purchasing from a company even after ending their Facebook relationship. A further 51 per

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BORROWERS are likely to face higher interest rates in coming months, after the Reserve Bank confirmed it would use its key weapon to combat inflation from the resource boom.

Minutes from the Reserve’s latest board meeting show it is a matter of when interest rates will rise, not if, saying higher rates ”were likely to be required at some point” to keep price pressures in check.

Inflation had bottomed, said the minutes, published yesterday, and board members had discussed the possibility of a wage surge triggered by resource-sector pay rises spreading to other industries.

Economists say the cash rate could rise from 4.75 per cent at any Reserve meeting in the next few months, as the resource investment boom gathers pace.

”I think they’ve made it pretty clear that rates have to go higher and it’s just a matter of timing,” a senior economist at JPMorgan, Helen Kevans, said.

The minutes said that after the surprise jump in the consumer price index in the March quarter, underlying inflation was likely to exceed its 2 to 3 per cent target band for the rest of this year.

Even though there was a ”high likelihood” the economy shrunk in the March quarter, export prices had surged to more than double their 1990s average.

The frugal spending habits of households and the strong Australian dollar would contain some of the pressures, the minutes said, but would not be enough to prevent inflation going awry in years ahead.

The Reserve said interest rates were ”mildly restrictive”, but were likely to climb higher as the bank monitored the outlook for economic growth and inflation, both of which are expected to rise.

The Reserve also said there were ”significant divergences” between sectors in the economy that posed challenges for setting interest rates.

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Whenever I recruit for a new member of the team, I usually don’t ask for someone with marketing experience, but more for someone who is organised and has good admin skills. 

Why? Because the vast majority of marketing I personally think is admin based and about being organised. Think about it: 

• Making calls to potential clients and following up
• Sending out emails
• Creating newsletters
• Writing brochures, literature etc
• Following up after networking events

To name but a few possible marketing tasks are all admin based, so when you’re doing your own marketing, if you’re good at admin and you’re organised, you’re not going to go far wrong. But, let’s look at when this is a problem. It’s so easy for marketing not to work because of lack of organisation. Imagine going to a networking event and then following up with everyone afterwards. Great job – that’s

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Mining giant BHP Billiton says it has addressed all environmental, social, cultural and economic issues raised over its planned expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium and copper mine.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann welcomed the release of the company’s supplementary environmental impact statement (SEIS) on Friday, hailing it as a major step forward in the development of the world’s biggest mining project.

But the Australian Conservation Foundation has urged the company to reconsider its environmental assessments to take into account the recent nuclear crisis in Japan.

And the Greens said the company had largely ignored the 4000 government, community and private submissions to its original environmental impact statement issued in 2009.

BHP Billiton already produces 180,000 tonnes of copper a year at Olympic Dam but will lift output to 750,000 tonnes annually if the expansion goes ahead.

Uranium oxide production will jump from 4500 tonnes to about 19,000 tonnes.

The expansion is also expected to create up to 10,000 jobs, including 6000 in the construction phase and about 4000 ongoing positions.

The company estimates there will be about 15,000 flow-on jobs in the supply and service industries.

Releasing the SEIS, the company’s uranium customer sector group president Dean Dalla Valle said the expansion would pump billions of dollars into the South Australian economy for decades to come.

Mr Dalla Valle said the document was an important step in establishing Olympic Dam as one of the world’s premier mining operations and one of the company’s biggest single investments.

“Ultimately our aim is to help supply the world’s population with the vital resources it needs to power homes, build cities and grow communities,” he said.

“We have addressed the environmental, social, cultural and economic issues raised in those submissions and in doing so we have ensured the project will deliver the most advanced and responsible outcomes.”

But the ACF said the SEIS did not address the risks from Australian uranium being used in nuclear reactors overseas.

“In the same week the German and Japanese governments have made decisions not to proceed with new nuclear reactors, BHP Billiton has released a mammoth document that completely dodges the question of international responsibility,” ACF campaigner David Noonan said.

“BHP Billiton hopes to lock in the world’s largest uranium project in the shadow of the continuing nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan.”

South Australian Greens MP Mark Parnell said BHP Billiton’s latest proposal largely ignored the concerns raised in submissions and would pose major risk to local marine life, groundwater supplies and air quality.

He also called on the SA government to maximise the return to taxpayers by insisting that mineral processing be conducted in South Australia, rather than overseas.

“This stuff can only be dug up once,” he said.

“They’ve got to do it right. Read full post…