Confusion over Palmer's $70b coal deal
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Clive Palmer says the deal is to supply coal over 20 years. (ABC TV News - file image)
It remains unclear whether or not a Queensland coal company has actually signed Australia's largest export deal with China.
On the weekend, Queensland's Sunday Mail newspaper carried a front page image of businessman Clive Palmer dressed as superman.
The paper reported that "Mining billionaire Clive Palmer became an economic superhero ... signing the biggest export deal in Australia's history and securing Queensland's financial future".
According to Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, the $70 billion agreement would deliver 7,500 jobs and allow the central Queensland China First coal mine to export 30 million tonnes of coal to China every year for 20 years.
There has been speculation that the deal would also make it easier for Mr Palmer to float his company, Resourcehouse.
But was this really Australia's biggest ever export contract? By last night it seemed unclear if there had even been a real contract signed.
The confusion started when the Hong Kong Stock Exchange received an announcement from China Power International Development, the company said to be buying all the coal.
The company's statement said it did not have an agreement with Resourcehouse and it warned shareholders and potential investors to exercise caution when dealing with the Australian company.
Then Mr Palmer issued a correction - it seemed he had accidentally named the wrong Chinese company. It was in fact China Power International Holding with which he had done the deal.
Ms Bligh sought to play down the issue, saying the deal was real and she had seen the proof of it.
"If you go back to Mr Palmer's press comments the other day, what he made clear was that he had a contract to supply 30 million tonnes a year for a 20-year period. I've certainly seen the documents that attest to that," she said.
But the uncertainty does not end there. The company said to be the actual entity to have signed off on this contract - China Power International Holding - turns out to be the parent company of the one which wrote to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It issued its own statement about the matter, saying the supposed deal was "a framework agreement only which does not involve any specific exercise price".
"The Sales and Purchase of Coal Agreement shall be subject to further negotiations between the parties," it added.
It does not sound as though CPI Holding believes it is a done deal after all.
But the Chinese company has refused to tell the ABC to what degree, if at all, the "framework agreement" mentions 30 million tonnes of coal every year for 20 years.
Resourcehouse is insisting that it has a binding coal sales agreement.
Mr Palmer flew into Perth from Beijing last night and will hold a press conference later today.
China Business consultant Professor Mike Berrell says the confusion is probably to do with cultural differences about how the arrangment is being interpreted.
"I suspect that's what's happened there is it has been lost in translation," he said.
"I think that the deal itself will eventually go ahead, but the Chinese negotiators quite often want to be more cautious."
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