$US60b coal claim was estimate: Palmer

Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer has backed down from claims he signed a $US60
billion ($A69.38 billion) export coal contract with a Chinese group, saying the
price was only an estimate.
The chairman of Resourcehouse Ltd also admitted on Tuesday he named the wrong
Chinese company in a statement about "Australia's biggest ever resource contract"
over the weekend.
At a media conference with Queensland Premier Anna Bligh on Saturday, Professor
Palmer had announced the $US60 billion deal for its proposed China First coal mine
and infrastructure project in central Queensland.
On Tuesday, in a media release, representatives for Mr Palmer said the contract was
merely a 20-year supply deal for 30 million tonnes per year of coal at a price
linked to the seaborne market.
Resourcehouse had estimated the cumulative value of coal sales under the deal to be
worth about $US60 billion across the life of the agreement, the release said.
Earlier, China Power International Development Ltd (CPI), named in the original
announcement about the deal, had denied the deal with Resourcehouse.
Prof Palmer's release admitted an error in naming the company in his initial
statement and said his binding deal was instead with China Power International
Holding Ltd, CPI's parent company.
China's official media reported that price negotiations had not even started yet.
Ms Bligh said she had personally sighted signed documents that related to the
quantity of supply.
"The question of the contract price for that supply is something that would be
negotiated probably on a tri-annual basis throughout the 20-year life of the supply
contract," Ms Bligh said.
"So I think 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," she said.
"I've certainly seen the documents that attest to that and the documents also spell
out the need for the price of that supply to be negotiated on a regular basis
throughout the 20 years."