FELTON: How much do we fully know about Ambre?

At long last, the Liberal National Party appears to be taking an interest in the worries of the Felton Valley Farmers. Stuart Copeland, MP for Cunningham, being as conscientious as usual, is said to be taking Jeff Seeney, his colleague from resources-rich Callide, out to Felton for a look at its unspoiled valley.

So that adds up to Mike Horan, Stuart, and Jeff – but not so far Leader Lawrence Springborg.

A suggestion that the wives of the Friends of Felton should invite Lawrence to have a morning tea talk was vetoed by the men – wonder who voted in that? That might have least got them a frontpage photograph.

What bothers me about the Felton Coal Project is that it is NOT just a problem for the Felton farmers. If this project goes ahead, it will have a massive effect on the Toowoomba region. Lifestyle will be changed, infrastructure will be crippled, environmental impact will be irreversible, and the demand for trade skills will put local industries under strain.

There’s no sign that anybody in authority is thinking about that.

Here’s a suggestion for the Friends of Felton: Plead with one of the Liberal National frontbenchers to question State Treasurer Andrew Fraser in Parliament - or the Mines Minister - how much the Queensland Government actually knows about the financial bona fides of Ambre Energy, the coal project company.

How competent is the company – given the global investments unheaval and its known entrepreneurial record – to carry out its ambitious plan to produce huge quantities of synthetic fuels from Felton's coal deposits.

Ambre Energy is not listed with ASX but is a public unlisted company with shareholders and North American subsidiaries.

If you “Google” Ambre Energy you can access the Board of Directors, none of whom are known to me. As it is not listed on the ASX it is not possible to access data on financials, say.

A lawyer would be able to search if there has been or is/are any action/s concerning the company. There is nothing on the easily available reference to show there's anything wrong or untoward aboutAmbre. It looks like they have raised some seed capital (they are incorporated in NSW) and set up a relationship with MLM (Metallica IMinerals Ltd).

I don't know how much money Ambre has expended in a feasibility study at Felton but suspect Felton will just be one of several prospects for them. Ambre will be looking through purely commercial eyes and will go where it can make the most money as quickly as possible.

I have not read or seen or heard anything other than positive comments on MLM and again, no negatives, in a commercial sense, about Ambre.

What we don’t know is how much capital they have for feasibility studies. My sense is that $500k would be the absolute minimum it would need to spend looking at any potential project (including Felton) before going to the next base.

I also note that it is infinitely harder in this climate, as opposed to a year ago, to raise speculative capital for Greenfield projects.