Aussie-listed Aspermont, Down Under producer of online and hard copy resource sector publications, has spent £662,400 trebling its stake in Mining Communications Ltd (MCL), owner of the UK’s authoritative Mining Journal, to 35 per cent. Andrew Kent, the colourful former London stockbroker who chairs Aspermont and has built it into a leader in its field, has joined the MCL board.

He has brought with him fellow London-based antipodean, Rod Whyte, a loyal lieutenant at controversial former broking group TC Coombs and now an enthusiast for magnesium and other ventures. MCL is chaired by Sir Robin Miller, the formidable ex-boss of media group EMAP, and Whyte extols fellow directors as ‘an assemblage of talent probably unprecedented in my long experience of the mining sector’.

He hails a new strategic alliance between MCL and Aspermont, valued at £17 million, whose output includes miningnews.net and petroleumnews.net. Kent has had brushes with the City authorities in the past, but Whyte argues this new combination ‘should ensure attainment of the No 1 position globally’.

Old hands will watch with glee.