http://www.minews.ir/Coal Sat, 15 Aug 2015 20:20:29 GMT News Studio(News Distribution System http://www.minews.ir/skins/default/en/{CURRENT_THEME}/ch01_newsfeed_logo.gif http://www.minews.ir/ 100 70 en Produced by Minews Sat, 15 Aug 2015 20:20:29 GMT Coal 60 http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26522/a-600-million-coal-mine-just-sold-for-less-than-1 (Minews) - The destructive force of a collapse in world coal prices has been underscored by the sale of a mine valued at A$860 million ($631 million) three years ago for just a dollar.Brazilian miner Vale SA and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. sold the Isaac Plains coking-coal mine in Australia to Stanmore Coal Ltd., the Brisbane-based company said Thursday in a statement. Sumitomo bought a half stake for A$430 million in 2012.A slump in the price of coking coal, used to make steel, to a decade low is forcing mines to close across the world and bankrupting some producers. Alpha Natural Resources Inc., the biggest U.S. producer, plans to file for bankruptcy protection in Virginia as soon as Monday, said three people with direct knowledge of the matter. It was valued at $7.3 billion in 2008.Isaac Plains in Queensland “was one of the most exciting coal projects in Australia,” Investec Plc analysts said in a note to investors on Friday. The site has a resource of 30 million metric tons, according to Stanmore.“The outlook for coal is still very difficult,” Roger Downey, Vale’s executive director for fertilizers and coal, said on Thursday after Stanmore announced the sale. “We see even in Australia mines that are still in the red and at some point that has to change. We have quite adverse and challenging markets.”Restart OutputCoal’s demise is just part of a broader slump in commodity prices, which fell to the lowest in 13 years this month. The benchmark price for coking coal exported from Australia has slumped 24 percent this year to $85.40 a ton on Friday, according to prices from Steel Business Briefing. The quarterly benchmark price peaked at $330 a ton in 2011, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.Production from Isaac Plains began in 2006 and continued through 2014, when it was closed. Its peak output was 2.8 million tons a year, with coal sold to steelmakers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Stanmore said it would be responsible for A$32 million in rehabilitation costs linked to the mine.The company plans to restart output at Isaac Plains at a reduced production rate. It sees “significant” synergies with its adjacent Wotonga deposit, only recently acquired and yet to be exploited. It’s also secured a $42 million loan from Taurus Mining Finance Fund to help finance a return to production.Stanmore shares jumped 67 percent Thursday after announcing the purchase. The company has a market value of A$30 million.The closing of Isaac Plains and a second mine in Australia shut last year, Integra Coal, led to a 7.2 percent reduction in Vale’s total coal output in the first half of 2015. It took a $343 million writedown on its Australian coal assets, part of total impairments of $1.15 billion last year, Vale said Feb. 26. ]]> Coal Sat, 01 Aug 2015 08:47:15 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26522/a-600-million-coal-mine-just-sold-for-less-than-1 http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26457/mozambique-port-accident-deals-blow-to-vale-coal-project (Minews) - A coal stacker has collapsed at the Mozambique port of Nacala, dealing a blow to Brazilian miner Vale's effort to start coal shipments from the African nation in the third quarter, sources told Reuters on Monday.The giant piece of machinery, which is used to handle coal and other bulk materials, buckled last week, according to a mining industry source with knowledge of the situation."The contractors are investigating and an official report is expected within a couple of weeks," the source said, adding that no one was hurt in the accident.Another source said it could take months to fix the equipment.In an emailed statement Vale confirmed that the coal stacker, which was in the final stages of construction, collapsed last week. A team is studying the cause of the accident, the company said.Vale is reliant on the port and connecting railway, together known as the Nacala Corridor, to reach capacity at its Moatize coal mine in northwest Mozambique.Vale expects Moatize's production to reach 11 million tonnes of coal per year by mid-2016 and 22 million tonnes by 2017. Current output is around 7 million tonnes.A third source said Vale had been experiencing problems with its wash plant at the mine site, an issue that could see it miss its production target for this year. In its statement Vale said the outage was due to scheduled maintenance and that processes were working normally.Vale's Moatize project has been beset by logistical problems, with the difficulties in building and expanding the Nacala railway and port holding back production increases at the mine.The rail line runs for 900 km (560 miles) through land-locked Malawi to the port of Nacala on the Indian Ocean. Vale had originally said it expected to ship coal from the new port in the first quarter of 2015.Last December, it sold a stake in the project to Japanese trader Mitsui & Co Ltd in order to share the cost of getting it up and running. Mitsui bought a stake of just under 15 percent in the mine and 35 percent in the rail and port. ]]> Coal Tue, 28 Jul 2015 13:29:06 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26457/mozambique-port-accident-deals-blow-to-vale-coal-project http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26293/adani-says-approval-delays-halt-work-on-australia-coal-project (Minews) - India's Adani Mining said the latest suspension of work on its A$10 billion ($7.4 billion) Carmichael coal mine in Australia was due to delays in government approvals for the project, which environmentalists say could damage the Great Barrier Reef.Output from the mine, one of a handful under development in the Galilee Basin of Queensland state, will be mostly exported to India, where it will be central to plans by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring electricity to hundreds of millions of people living off the grid.Environmentalists are campaigning to have the mines stopped, saying they will put parts of the Great Barrier Reef under threat and help accelerate global warming.Supporters say that at 247,000 square kilometres, the Galilee Basin has the potential to become Australia's largest coal-producing region, providing thousands of jobs.Parsons Brinckerhoff and Korea's POSCO Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, which is also touted as an investor in the final project, were told late last week to stop work on the Carmichael mine."The preliminary works contracts were previously sustained due to the level of investment Adani had maintained for more than 12 months in anticipation of a range of government decisions and approvals timeframes," Adani said in a statement emailed to Reuters.POSCO E&C said Adani had asked it to halt its design work as of July 16, with tentative plans to resume work in early October.Greenpeace on Wednesday called on the Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt to revoke the project's mining licence."The burning of coal from Carmichael would produce 121 million tonnes of deadly carbon dioxide emissions every year at maximum production," said Nikola Casule,a Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, "It would be a catastrophe for the climate and for the Great Barrier Reef."Hunt's office in Canberra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Adani has signed up buyers for about 70 percent of the 40 million tonnes Carmichael is due to produce in its first phase.The project mainly hinges on environmental approval to deepen a port on the fringe of the Great Barrier Reef in order to ship the coal.An earlier plan to dump 3 million cubic metres of soil dredged at the port of Abbot Point into the sea about 25 km (15 miles) from the reef was rejected.The Australian federal government must approve the actual channel dredging, and Queensland state needs to clear Adani's solution for storing the spoil. ]]> Coal Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:18:07 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26293/adani-says-approval-delays-halt-work-on-australia-coal-project http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26234/bhp-billiton-s-coal-chief-sees-tough-time-ahead (Minews) - BHP Billiton's coal chief, Mike Henry, says he expects no recovery in coking-coal prices, already languishing at decade lows, at any time soon.In comments to The Australian newspaper, Mr. Henry, who heads the world's biggest coking-coal exporter, said that despite the price outlook, he intends to boost production from the firm's Queensland coal mines through increased productivity."When I started in the business at the beginning of the year, I was not expecting prices would come off by 20%-25%," he said. "I'm not really expecting you are going to see a sharp recovery any time soon, given the amount of oversupply you see in the market and the fact that seaborne import demand into China has tapered off."Mr. Henry added that uncertainty over how China is implementing new regulations to test for fluorine in coal, had further dented demand."One problem is that they (China) don't use the same testing standards that we use and the results on the Chinese side can be quite different from the results here--that creates uncertainty," Mr. Henry told the newspaper. ]]> Coal Mon, 20 Jul 2015 17:33:06 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26234/bhp-billiton-s-coal-chief-sees-tough-time-ahead http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26092/china-june-coal-output-falls-4-9-percent-to-327-mln-tonnes (Minews) - China produced 327 million tonnes of coal in June, down 4.9 percent from the same period last year, with major producers slashing output to minimise losses, according to data from the country's statistics bureau.Production in the first six months reached 1.789 billion tonnes, down 5.8 percent compared with the same period of 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics said.Coking coal production in June also fell 6.9 percent on the year to 38.38 million tonnes.Beijing has been trying to ease its dependence on coal and encourage new sources of energy as part of its war on pollution, but it is the economic downturn that has had the biggest impact on the sector, with supply outstripping demand and prices down more than 20 percent so far this year. ]]> Coal Wed, 15 Jul 2015 16:08:25 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26092/china-june-coal-output-falls-4-9-percent-to-327-mln-tonnes http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26040/this-town-has-been-burning-for-50-years (Minews) - In what seems like the plot to disaster movie, the quiet town of Centralia, Pennsylvania has endured a burning problem since 1962: It's been on fire, literally, for the past 53 years.And how this fire started still remains a mystery. But chemistry can help explain why it's still going.The problem runs deepCentralia, Pennsylvania sits atop a few of the biggest coal deposits in the world. This was fortuitous for the sleepy town at the time because coal was — and still is — one of the main sources of energy and electricity, having fueled the Industrial Revolution.In the 1800s, miners in Centralia blasted tunnels underground to harvest the coal, but by the mid-1900s, many of the mines where abandoned.No one knows exactly how the Centralia fire started, but the strongest theory is that burning trash from a nearby landfill accidentally ignited coal below an old entrance to the mine. The fire then spread through the minesFeeding the flamesCoal is formed over millions of years when swamps and bogs full of organic matter like trees, roots, and bacteria are buried under sand, mud, and other natural materials. The pressure on the organic matter increases as layers of earth above it grow over time, and all of the water and other substances from the buried plants and trees get squeezed out, forming coal that ends up being mostly carbon — about 40-90% carbon by weight.When the carbon inside coal mixes with oxygen, it ignites. It can even begin spontaneously without a flame nearby.Those tunnels that the miners dug in the 1800s fed the flames by siphoning in oxygen from the surface. Then, as more coal burned, the flames bit deeper and deeper into the surrounding region — a whopping 300-feet-deep — in a vicious, fiery cycle that wouldn't stop.Coal burns slow and steady, which means that it takes a very long time to burn out. This is unlike timber in a forest or a camp fire, which smolders quickly.As long as there's enough heat, fuel, and oxygen to keep it going, the fire won't burn out. Because coal contains a natural source of fuel — carbon — it can keep burning for as long as there's enough heat and oxygen to keep it going. This is why coal mine fires can blaze for centuries.Today, the Centralia fire covers six square miles and spreads 75 feet per year. Shockingly, it could burn for another 250 years.Eternal FlameThe 1,000 residents that lived in Centralia at the time thought the fire was a silly inconvenience at first. But that changed when sulfurous fumes and carbon monoxide began seeping out of the mine, nearly suffocating them in their homes. The underground fire also fractured the ground, making sinkholes pop up all over the place. A 12-year-old was nearly consumed by one in 1981.The town has tried in vain to snuff out the flames over the years. They drilled holes into the mine and plugged them up with wet sand to choke off the air supply, but it didn't work. They stopped trying to put it out in the 1980s and haven't made another attempt since.The state government condemned Centralia in 1992 and almost all of its residents left. Today, just about a dozen people live there. The town has been taken over by graffiti artists.While a long-burning, underground fire may seem like a freak occurrence, they are actually fairly common. Today, mine fires are burning in New Zealand, Wyoming, India, China, and Turkmenistan.Fires like this also exist naturally too, with a few thousand burning around the world.Our friends a the American Chemical Society made a YouTube video about the Centralia fire on their Reactions channel. Check it out for more fiery details. ]]> Coal Tue, 14 Jul 2015 17:16:06 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/26040/this-town-has-been-burning-for-50-years http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25999/end-of-an-era-for-uk-coal-mining (Minews) - One Britain’s last standing coal miners, UK Coal Holdings, said Friday it is shutting down its two last underground operations, marking the end of a 300-year industry that once employed over a million workers.The first mine, Thoresby Colliery, is ceasing mining on Friday, and 360 employees will be made redundant, the company said in an e-mailed statement.Operations at Kellingley mine will also end on or around December 15, UK Coal said.The decision follows a long period of difficult trading conditions, largely due to low international coal prices and geological issues at both mines.Only last week, Hatfield Colliery in South Yorkshire announced its immediate closure 14 months earlier than expected.The U.K. imported 1.9 million metric tons of the solid fuel in April, compared with domestic production of 757,000 tons, according to the Department of Energy. Imported coal covered 84% of total consumption last year, compared with 21% in 1995. ]]> Coal Sun, 12 Jul 2015 18:36:08 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25999/end-of-an-era-for-uk-coal-mining http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25925/germany-s-long-goodbye-to-coal-dashes-power-price-rise-prospect (Minews) - Germany's deferral of the death sentence for its coal sector still condemns power producers to the suffering of engrained falling prices for electricity, analysts say.Seeking reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and battling overcapacity in Europe's biggest power market could have prompted Berlin to usher in an aggressive phase-out of old coal-to-power plants, supporting languishing prices.Instead it decided to set up a coal-fired electricity reserve from 2017 rather than collecting levies from such plants to enforce a speedy closure. That is not seen as radical enough to boost power prices.Costing 230 million euros ($253.69 million) each year, the reserve is not really intended to be activated, and implies the permanent shut-down of the plants after 2021."It makes less than 2 euros difference to the power price by 2020," said Stephen Woodhouse of consultancy Poyry. "We are not talking about anything that fundamentally alters the position of plants in the market."The compromise decision of July 1 was aimed at deferring the loss of mining and generation jobs by a few years, and opted for a lignite (brown coal) reserve.This involves 2.7 gigawatts (GW), less than 1.5 percent of nominal power capacity to be removed from supply between 2017 and 2020 in a scheme that will be worked out later this year between utilities and the government.Since the decision, wholesale forward prices have not shown much change from pricing delivery in 2016 at around 31.80 euros a megawatt hour (MWh) and in 2021 at around 33.75 euros, data from the EEX bourse shows.The mild contango, which is hedgers' term for a premium on a commodity at a future point, shows little expectation that overcapacity will disappear in a meaningful size while Germany continues on its course to consistently add renewable capacity.The year ahead position is half its level seen in 2011, held down by oversupply, slack demand at home and in the euro zone's key economies that border on Germany, and the politically desired expansion of green energy.The alternative option - which had been under discussion for over six months - would have involved a levy on coal-fired plants over a certain age, which could have driven many plants operated by RWE and Vattenfall out of the market.Apart from costing jobs, this choice might also have removed too much of a safety net for times that renewable production is insufficient, as Germany simultaneously switches off unpopular nuclear plants by 2021.The latest plan allows savings of between 11 and 12.5 million tonnes of CO2, with some hard coal and gas-fired plants due to replace the "missing lignite" on a 50/50 basis, Deutsche Bank and Bernstein analysts said in research notes.But traders said the replacements would be more modern, running on less fuel and needing fewer CO2 emissions permits. "All things considered, it will not be bullish for coal," said one. ]]> Coal Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:00:11 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25925/germany-s-long-goodbye-to-coal-dashes-power-price-rise-prospect http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25905/australian-coal-miners-attack-china-s-new-testing-system (Minews) - Australian miners are up in arms against China’s new coal-quality testing system, as they claim Beijing is using it to block imports and so favour its own struggling coal industry.The Minerals Council of Australia, which counts some of the world's biggest coal miners as members, including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Glencore, is leading the battle.“The main problems relate to the variability in the testing regime, inadequate allowance for commercial remedies and the delays it is subjecting shipping to,” Greg Evans, director of coal at the council told Financial Times. “There is no doubt each of these factors adds to cost and increases risk,” he added.Coal has traditionally been tested for ash and sulphur levels, but Chinese customs have recently begun checking imports for fluorine and phosphorus as well, as part of the country’s “war on pollution.”According to the Australian Financial Review, some producers have been threatened with penalties, which could soon become de-facto tariff charges.And while these new rules are not uniform across the country, the most relevant ones for exporters are conducted at China’s southeastern cities, which are the main users of Australian coal.Coal is Australia’s second-largest export after iron ore. ]]> Coal Tue, 07 Jul 2015 15:00:12 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25905/australian-coal-miners-attack-china-s-new-testing-system http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25867/plan-targeted-for-access-to-2m-tons-of-concentrated-coal (Minews) - The executive of Tabas Coal said on the basis of a five-year plan it is expected that production of concentrated coal in Tabas region will amount to 2 million tons from the present 750 thousand tons.Omid Fallah said studies show that 55% of the identified reserves of coal in Iran are located in Tabas region.He put the geological reserves of the Tabas region at 2.5 billion tons of which 1.1 billion tons of washing coal reserves are in Parvardeh region and 1.4 billion tons of thermal coal reserves are in Mezino region.He said a plan has been launched for the development of coal mines with an aim of exploiting east Parvardeh reserves as well as Parvardeh 2, 3 and 4, thermal coal reserves in Mezino region and exploitation activity in all the four Parvadeh regions, Ab-Doghi, Nayband and Mezino Tabas.Fallah said currently coke building factories with a capacity of over 3.6 million tons have been established in the country but the annual production of concentrated coal is 1.5 million tons.Referring to the annual three million coal shortage in the country, the official noted that if the 70 million euro fund is finalized this year, a project will be launched and become operational within 49 months and 450 thousand tons of concentrated coal will be added to the country’s production capacity.Ministry of Industry, Mine and trade put the concentrated coal production at 1.150 million tons last year which shows an increase of 25% as compared to the previous year.It is predicted that concentrated coal production this year will amount to 1.200 million tons. ]]> Coal Mon, 06 Jul 2015 16:12:23 GMT http://www.minews.ir/en/doc/news/25867/plan-targeted-for-access-to-2m-tons-of-concentrated-coal