Coal king Matt Latimore makes $5m in one day

A Brisbane mining executive made more than $5m on his investment in Stanmore Resources in one day, which may give him a few more bob to invest in his love of fast cars.

Coal king Matt Latimore made a cool $5.4m yesterday on his investment in Stanmore Resources, which may give him a few more bob to invest in his love of fast cars.

The Ferrari-driving Latimore is the second-biggest shareholder in Stanmore Coal, which has sealed a deal to purchase BHP’s stake in two Queensland coking coal mines for $1.83bn. Stanmore’s shares surged up to 20 per cent on Monday before closing 14 per cent higher at $1.18. That boosted Latimore and his M Resources’ 38.86 million shares in Stanmore by $5.4m to more than $45m. Latimore says the deal is transformational for Stanmore, which made a name for itself when founder Nick Jorss purchased the Isaac Plains coal mine for $1 in 2015.

“Metallurgical coal prices are at record highs,” says Latimore, who says demand for steel in Asia is being pumped up by demand for everything from cars to infrastructure.

“They are building a lot more steel mills, but no one is developing more coal mines,”

Latimore tells your diarist. “We strongly believe in the fundamentals of metallurgical coal, which is today trading at over $US400 per metric tonne.”

Matt Latimore sees big future for coking coal.

The deal is also good news for Latimore’s M Resources, which is the marketer of Stanmore’s coal. Latimore is a coal man through and through.

For a decade, he was the general manager of Wesfarmers Curragh Coal as well as holding various roles with Mitsui and Co’s coal operations.

In 2011, he founded M Resources to focus on the marketing and trading of metallurgical coal. Latimore says at the moment there is no alternative to metallurgical coal in the steel-making process. Indeed, he notes it will play a crucial role in the move to renewables and will be required to make more electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels.

ONE OF A KYND

Shark Tank’s Glen Richards, the Gandel family and other backers will invest $2m in Queensland disability support service startup Kynd.

Kynd connects NDIS participants directly with support workers, allowing people to match with those they are likely to have something in common with - rather than just being assigned a support worker.

Kynd is the brainchild of Gold Coaster Michael Metcalfe, who discovered the shortfalls and frustrations of the disability and care sector when his mother needed short term support for a medical emergency years ago.

Metcalfe says the lack of simplicity was astounding. “The experiences of family and friends opened my eyes. I learned disability services were complex,” Metcalfe recalls. “When you dive deep into it, you discover the industry is old-school and disorganised, with little personalisation or smart technology.”

Glen Richards backing disability start up Kynd.

He says more than half of NDIS participants are under 25 and are comfortable with using technology. “We can order pizzas and taxis in three clicks, so why can’t everyone find the right people to help their life? That’s where we come in,” he says.

NDIS spending it estimated at $26 billion annually with 466,619 participants already signed up for the scheme.

Metcalfe, who started the businesses from a bedroom in his Gold Coast home in 2018 with an initial $10,000 investment, hopes to double the firm’s workforce from the current 15 over the next few years as it expands into a national service.

Glen Richard says he has watched Kynd evolve its technical capability and been impressed with the positive impact the start up had on many peoples’ lives.

The Melboune-based Gandel clan are one of Australia’s largest family investors, with their Gandel Invest fund, known for strategic investments in fast growing tech companies both in Australia and in the United States.