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Show wide a participation as possible of Australian ownership in the mining scene. However, taking it all in all, foreign capital and foreign companies receive reasonably fair treatment at the hands of administrative officials and certainly in the courts. Dr. Arthur Denning, Commissioner for New South Wales in the United States, summarized the situation well when he said: "While Australia exhibits an exceptionally fine investment climate, it is not a place to suspent the laws of economics or the rules of good sense or business practice... It is true that compared to many developing countries around the world Australia may look like a bed of roses, but there are also thorns... First there is the all important local market... 11-1/2 million people is not the same as 190 million, and this means that the kind of super-specialization of product rampant in the U. S. is sometimes not possible in Australia. For example, we could not afford a machine costing 1/4 million dollars, which at one of Sunbeam's plants in Chicago stamps out from stainless sheet steel as many frypans in one week as Australia would use in a year." Mining down under is no place for those poor in purse, limited in experience, or unfortified by strong human resources within their organization. The risks are high, and the investment required is likely to be large. Manageria skills must be imported into Australia to make the project go, and marketing the output requires unusual knowledge, experience, and preferably established relationships, particularly in dealing with the Japanese and with the Europeans. With so much in common Australia certainly is one of the best countries in which an American can do business. Mining down under has its special problems, but the American mining industry is no stranger to problems and, -17- |