Member Info for Phulbari

Yes - shares in GCM. More than enough.

Tang is OK. And, yes, GPback you are quite right but I also have plenty of skin in the game. My postings are based on first-hand knowledge and experience of the country - not on wishful thinking.

I've been tanked up for years!

The share price remains depressed because there are new kids on the block, and there are still several major bumps on the road to approval - not least contending with the angry mob who scuppered it 20 years ago, and made Hasina a diehard opponent. There are promising signs but an open cut mine at Phulbari is by no means in the bag.

The discussion has veered off course. Polls are all over the place and, being Bungladesh, the wise expect the unexpected. The question posed it what energy policies would a Jamaat-led government pursue, bearing in mind that the are in alliance with the National Citizen Party (NCP), the party born out of the student protests which brought down Hasina. Does extraction of coal feature in their plans?

Has anyone made the calculations of what would happen if the Jamaat-led alliance wins the election? The polling makes the contest look close.

Alum's analysis is spot on, but I fear the self-righteous 'lunatics' are still going to hold sway after the elections, and whatever the outcome. They have large, crowd-pulling support and it will take nerves of steel to stand up to them. Here's hoping.

It is highly significant that Anu Muhammad has resurfaced (in fact he never went away). He distorts the facts, as he always did, but he represents a deeply entrenched leftist/green opposition to the proposed mine. He had Hasina in his pocket. How will

a future government handle him and his many vocal followers? Will they stand up to him? All questions that weigh on the share price.

With the luxury of a keyboard, I can herewith offer a few more details and quotes from my notes.

Tang said: "We are cautiously optimistic that the incoming government will consider local coal very seriously".

He said there was a growing consensus in Bangladesh - in government and industry - to consider local coal as a fuel source.

They were expecting the new energy policy to underpin this.

Emphasising the importance of PowerChina as a partner, he said it was keen to continue the relationship with Asia Energy and that it brought the company "credibility and security". Gary said the partnership with PowerChina was a 'milestone for us'.

AGM - Predictable and nothing new came out. Tang said he was cautiously optimistic that the incoming government post elections would consider coal very seriously. Tang was bullish about the relationship with PowerChina which gives the company credibility and security. Gary said the Energy policy should come out by the end of December.

I plan to be there.

Pessimistic no, but I have had more than 20 years experience of learning to be realistic about this project.

Yes, that is the crux of the matter. In such a rentacrowd environment it would be all too easy for the left and the greens to remobilise, and once again rational and informed debate would be drowned out. For the mine to go ahead, the winners of the election (if held) would need strong nerves. At this stage, it's impossible to call, and it is certainly not in the bag.

As one who was there in 2006 and saw it all unravel, I highly recommend this piece. Spot on.

Nothing cooking until they get rid of the joker in the pack and hold elections.

The worst decision of all at Barapukuria was to go for underground mining. This meant 80% of the seam could never be mined. Like Phulbari, bang next door, it was tailor made for open cut.

I didn't go this year, largely because nothing can now happen until new elections. Yunus is not going to sign off on a coal mine, so we we have to wait for a new government - end of 2025 at the earliest.

Gary has been the lynchpin of the Bangladesh operation ever since the exploration and resource proving stage. His continued presence in country is reassuring but he alone was never going to carry the day.

Yes. I think you are on the money there. If he takes that long, he will be kicked out.

For Digit4lis, in particular, here is the link to the interview on Aljazeera. I am incidentally a journalist and I take your reference to posting 'rubbish' as both ignorant and highly offensive.

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/talk-to-al-jazeera/2024/11/17/yunus-on-hasina-she-can-call-herself-bangladesh-pm-reality-differs

Yunus was interviewed at length by Nick Clark on Aljazeera last night and he came across as naively green and dropped a little bombshell. His mandate was to pave the way for elections by eliminating corruption and cleaning up Bangladesh's politics (so simple, I am amazed no one has thought of that before) and, though he wouldn't be drawn on a precise timetable, he said the process could take up to four years. GCM investors had better buckle up.