Vietnam to disappear from trade picture: UBS
August 11 - 17, 2008
THE short term disruption to thermal coal supplies from Vietnam is expected to become a longer term constant in regional coal trade, increasing pressure on China’s power generation sector to find alternative supply sources, according to investment bank UBS.
Friedland's Qld coal warning
August 4 - 10, 2008
WHAT does Ken Talbot know that the rest of us don’t? Two years ago the Macarthur Coal boss was a believer “in the minerals boom for the next 5-10 years”. Now he’s exiting coal. Perhaps Robert Friedland has spooked him.
Coal still hot: Macquarie
July 14 - 20, 2008
MIRROR, mirror on the wall, where is the best value pure resources play of all? While some point investors immediately towards iron ore, copper or oil, the equities research team at Macquarie Bank say look no further than the much maligned ugly sisters, coking and thermal coal.
BHPB, Anglo fire up coal venture
December 10 - 16, 2007
BHP Billiton and Anglo American will invest more than $US950 million in two major South African coal projects that will feed the same plant, to be jointly owned by the mining giants.
Friedland coal plan into gear
November 5 - 11, 2007
ROBERT Friedland’s Mongolian coal vehicle SouthGobi Energy Resources has secured the equipment it needs to get its Ovoot Tolgoi openpit mine into production next year. It’s a small piece in a regional energy picture that could become every bit as impressive as the nearby multi-billion-dollar Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project being developed with Rio Tinto.
Campbell Brothers tests coal market
September 24 - 30, 2007
THE Brisbane-based industrial group Campbell Brothers Ltd expects its $A76.8 million acquisition of coal testing firm ACIRL to be immediately earnings accretive and believes it can use ACIRL’s leading position in the $A100 million Australian coal testing and analytical services market as a platform for growth in other countries.
Peabody lowers full-year forecast
July 23 - 29, 2007
US COAL major Peabody Energy has had to lower its 2007 production forecast due to constraints on growing capacity in the US and Australia. The company believes the brakes on output, coupled with an estimated 115GW of new coal-fuelled power generating capacity requiring 400 million tonnes of coal a year, will produce a sharp rise in 2008-09 prices.
Sedgman to build, operate Bowen plant
June 25 - July 1, 2007
ENGINEERING services group Sedgman Ltd will operate a new $A65 million coal handling and preparation plant at Middlemount in central Queensland for 10 years from the second half of 2008 after building and commissioning the plant for Newcastle-based Custom Mining Solutions (CMS).
US giant to focus on growth markets
April 23 - 29, 2007
COAL giant Peabody Energy Corp has hired Morgan Stanley to identify its best exit route from the troubled Appalachian coal fields of eastern USA, where producers are facing mounting cost and regulatory pressures.
Out of the dog house
March 19 - 25, 2007
IGNORED, invisible – in the proverbial dog house – are some of the unedifying terms used to sum up thermal coal as a product in the past 12 months. Now it’s a question of how soon can Australian energy coal exporters get increased production back on the rails to take advantage of not only higher prices but also the changing demand picture in Asia.
Blair Athol Mk II
January 25 - 31, 2007
A BLAIR Athol clone? Not exactly.
JPU shift in buying patterns
December 7 - 13, 2006
JAPANESE power utilities (JPU) have embraced a strategy to reduce dependence on Australian coal supplies with diversification of coal sources an underlying driver. While uncertainty over the level of future supply from China is something of a wildcard at this stage, current forecasts have the Australian share of one major Japanese power company’s imports dipping as low as 65% by 2008, from 89% in 2004.
Bigger future seems assured
November 23 - 29, 2006
THE Gloucester Valley has been a low-profile contributor to New South Wales coal exports next to the bigger coalfields to the west and south, the Hunter and Newcastle, respectively. Mainstay producer Gloucester Coal Ltd (GCL), and before GCL CIM Resources Ltd, has been a steady rather than stand-out performer. However, at least one analyst believes continuing success from drilling on the Clareval seam “could be the start of something bigger”.
PTBA tracking slowly: analyst
November 9 - 15, 2006
THE Government-controlled Indonesian coal producer PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) has been hit by higher costs which have largely offset higher domestic contract prices in the nine months to the end of September, 2006.
Location, location ...
November 9 - 15, 2006
IT MIGHT not be easy to predict which way Mongolia’s national government will go next with its mining laws, but there is no such uncertainty surrounding the direction of saleable metallurgical coal from a new mine in the Gobi desert. It will most definitely be heading south.
ABARE high-growth picture calls for more infrastructure
October 26 - November 1, 2006
AUSTRALIA’S resources boom has justifiably intensified the national spotlight on short term infrastructure capacity and its potential to become a bottleneck for rising exports. Only faint alarms bells about the rising cost of transport and shipping infrastructure, in a highly inflationary environment, can be heard above the current construction din.
Elk Valley owner says cost pressure easing
October 26 - November 1, 2006
CANADA: ELK Valley Coal, the world’s second largest exporter of coking coal, has reported September quarter coal production of three million tonnes and coal sales totalling 3.5Mt, both down on last year’s levels, while higher costs and lower production and prices squeezed operating margins during the period.
Engineering lower emissions
October 19 - 25, 2006
A US power generator is planning to invest more than $US500 million in emission controls to create one of the cleanest major coal-fueled power plants in the country, with emissions projected to be one-fifth of the average of existing American coal plants.
Rio Tinto has stronger quarter
October 19 - 25, 2006
A ‘PARTIAL’ recovery in demand helped boost Rio Tinto’s Australian coking coal production in the September quarter by 13%, however, output was still 22% lower for the first nine months of 2006 compared with the same period in 2005 due to overall softness in the hard coking coal market, the company said.
India deal close for contractor
October 5 - 11, 2006
AUSTRALIA’S largest mining contractor is assessing opportunities in India and may be close to landing the first mining contract awarded to a foreign company.
Loudon clear on NZ coal
September 21 - 27, 2006
GEOFF Loudon could be resting on his laurels. His discovery of and corporate development work to get one of the world’s great gold mines, Lihir in Papua New Guinea, to the strong position it is in today gave him some options.
Equipping for growth
September 21 - 27, 2006
A MINING exhibition held in Beijing in October last year attracted most of the world’s major suppliers of mining equipment. The exhibitor list spoke of the increasing importance of the Chinese market to these companies. But it was the level of technology both on display and under discussion in temporary meeting rooms that highlighted a more significant trend in China’s mining industry – particularly its coal mines.
Fuel for thought
September 7 - 13, 2006
LOCAL power for an estimated $A2 billion of new iron ore developments in Western Australia’s Midwest region could be generated using coal from a 30-year-plus resource near Eneabba, 270km north of Perth, according to power station and direct-reduced iron plant proponent Aviva Corporation Ltd.
Coppabella safety milestone
September 7 - 13, 2006
AUSTRALIA: LEADING coal engineering group Sedgman Ltd has achieved an impressive safety milestone at the Coppabella mine in central Queensland, recently passing five years without a lost time injury (LTI) at the site.Sedgman operates and maintains the coal handling and preparation plant at the mine ...
Projects won’t all get green lights
June 22 - 28, 2006
FEWER than half the greenfields coal projects slated for development in Australia through to 2010 are likely to get off the ground if demand forecasts are realised and Australian output rises to meet projected requirements.
BHPB to discharge gas
June 22 - 28, 2006
AUSTRALIA: BHP Billiton has decided to maintain its focus on coal production in the Bowen Basin, offloading 50% of the major Moranbah coal bed methane gas project to The Australian Gas Light Company (AGL) for $A93 million.
Caledon alters course
June 22 - 28, 2006
AUSTRALIA: London-based gold explorer Caledon Resources Plc has veered from its originally chosen path — a search for Carlin-style gold deposits in southern China — to become a coal producer in central Queensland.
B&B eyes power float
June 22 - 28, 2006
AUSTRALIA: Global investment group Babcock & Brown (B&B) has flagged a public listing for its growing power generation asset vehicle after adding South Australia’s Flinders power station and Leigh Creek coal mine to its portfolio in an $A317 million deal with America’s NRG Energy Inc.
Nuclear in, coal out, says minister
June 22 - 28, 2006
CANADA: While recent startling discoveries in Australia have included uranium and its usefulness as a source of energy for power generation, in Ontario, Canada, energy minister Dwight Duncan is convinced nuclear power is the answer to the province’s long-term energy needs. So much so that he plans to shut down Ontario’s coal-fired power stations.
Elk Valley avoids strike
June 22 - 28, 2006
CANADA: Canada's major coking coal producer Elk Valley Coal has averted prolonged strike action at its key Elkview operations in south-east British Columbia, agreeing on terms of a new five-year labour agreement with the United Steel Workers of America.
Caterpillar powering ahead in China
June 22 - 28, 2006
CHINA: A new methane-gas powered generator in China’s Shanxi Province is expected to become the largest plant of its type in the world when it becomes operational next year.
Baruun Naran Valley project takes shape
June 22 - 28, 2006
MONGOLIA: A Canadian company that has outlined a significant metallurgical coal resource on China’s doorstep is already talking up prospects for a 5-10 million-tonnes-per-annum mine supplying the Mongolian and Chinese markets.
Double Pike entry for Indians
June 22 - 28, 2006
NEW ZEALAND: NZ Oil & Gas has pushed delays to its planned Pike River Coal Ltd initial public offering and start-up of the company’s South Island coking coal project to the sidelines with news that it has secured a second cornerstone investor for PRC and another significant sales contract for Pike coal.
ICG suprises with profit downgrade
June 22 - 28, 2006
USA: International Coal Group Inc has slashed its 2006 earnings projections just a few months after assuring investors profits would be $US60-80 million for the year.
Thermal power play still open
May 25 - 31, 2006
ONE of China’s biggest coal producers may have done Australian thermal coal exporters a favour by going on the front foot this week and settling 2006-2007 thermal coal contract pricing with Japanese power utilities 7.5% below last year’s prices.
China thermal imports on the rise
May 25 - 31, 2006
CHINA: Xstrata Coal chief executive Peter Coates last month told delegates at a coal conference in China the potential market for Chinese thermal coal imports was “enormous”.
Puda Coal revenue up
May 25 - 31, 2006
CHINA: Puda Coal Inc, a producer of highgrade metallurgical coking coal in Shanxi, China, has reported record revenue of $US20.8 million for the March quarter, 2006.
Boom rolls on
May 25 - 31, 2006
AUSTRALIA: Xstrata Coal is targeting being a supply source for China for the next two decades or more from its first greenfield mine development in Australia, the $A540 million Rolleston thermal coal mine in central Queensland.
$11B and counting
May 25 - 31, 2006
AUSTRALIA: The official opening of the $A90 million Minerva coal mine in the Bowen Basin is another boost to Queensland’s booming coal industry, state premier Peter Beattie said at last month’s mine launch.
Sprink Creek future clouded
May 25 - 31, 2006
NEW ZEALAND: Zealand’s biggest coal producer, Solid Energy, has delayed a decision on the future of its Spring Creek underground mine until July, with the problem-plagued operation given a three-month stay of execution while management investigate “one last option it has identified to make the mine economically viable”.
Elk Valley secures labour deal
May 25 - 31, 2006
CANADA: Elk Valley Coal has concluded a new five-year labour deal with major union, United Steel Workers, at its 10 milliontonnes- per-annum Fording River coking coal operations in British Columbia. The collective agreement covers the period from May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2011.
Coal boosts BC mining sector
May 25 - 31, 2006
CANADA: Metallurgical coal prices helped British Columbia’s mining sector to its best financial performance in 38 years, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey.
Peabody profit boost
May 25 - 31, 2006
USA: Peabody Energy has exceeded analyst expectations with its latest earnings result, the company citing rising demand and higher price realisation as key factors behind a first-quarter profit surge.
India looms large on horizon
April 13 - 19, 2006
CHINA’S rampant economic growth is no longer news. While the breadth and intensity of the global resources boom it has inspired continue to surprise, there is strong belief on the part of many business leaders in the longevity of China’s industrial expansion. Talk of India creating a second economic tidal wave is now being viewed with less suspicion than the early sightings of China’s growth statistics.
Ensham supports levy
April 13 - 19, 2006
AUSTRALIA: Ensham Resources chief executive and president of the Queensland Resources Council, John Pegler, has welcomed the recent launch of the voluntary coal industry levy which will raise up to $A300 million for research into clean coal technologies.
New hope for Rey
April 13 - 19, 2006
AUSTRALIA: Rey Resources Ltd Mark II is on the launch pad. The would-be Western Australian coal producer and South American gold-copper explorer wants to raise $A5 million via a public float at 20c a share.
Ownership crackdown continues
April 13 - 19, 2006
CHINA: Six Chinese government administrations have reportedly pledged to intensify a joint investigation into the interests of government officials in coal mines.
West needs cleaner energy: Report
April 13 - 19, 2006
USA: Wyoming and other American coal-producing states in the country’s west must put greater emphasis on developing coal gasification and other clean-coal technologies, a Western Resource Advocates report has concluded in the wake of a decision by power supplier Sempra Energy to abandon plans to build a new coal-fired power station in Nevada.
Alstom wins big German contract
April 13 - 19, 2006
GERMANY: Engineering group Alstom has won a EUR450 million contract to build the world’s biggest lignite-fired plant in Neurath, Germany, for utility RWE Power.
Greta Seam back on the market
April 13 - 19, 2006
AUSTRALIA: The resumption of full-scale mining at the Austar underground coal mine will mark the return onto the market of sought after Greta seam coal. Australia’s lowest ash, high-fluidity coking coal has not been available to steel producers since late 2003 when a mine fire destroyed the operation and wiped out previous owner Gympie Gold.
Import balance shifting
March 30 - April 5, 2006
COAL imports by the traditional powerhouses, the European Union, Japan, Korea and Taiwan increased by only 2.1% in 2005, with metallurgical coal imports down 1.7% and steam coal imports up 3.7%.
Powering up
March 30 - April 5, 2006
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa will require 40 million tonnes per annum of new coal supply capacity to meet domestic demand from an estimated 17 gigawatts of new coal-fired power generating capacity to be built in the country by 2015, BHP Billiton vice-president marketing for energy coal, Mike Henry told analysts late last month.
On the boil
March 30 - April 5, 2006
VIETNAM’S coal industry is undergoing radical transformation in a bid to increase coal output to 47 million tonnes within four years to meet local energy demand.
Australia to grow coal trade dominance
March 13 - 19, 2006
METALLURGICAL coal may play second fiddle to iron ore in the pecking order of Australia’s major commodity exports over the next three years, but the country’s coking coal producers are expected to ramp up output by at least 7% this year and 32% or more by 2011, according to latest Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) forecasts.
Power switch to support thermal prices
March 13 - 19, 2006
CONTINUING growth in coal-fired electricity generation in Asia should continue to push up thermal coal exports from Australia, Indonesia and possibly South Africa over the remainder of the decade, though continuing pricing pressure may keep a lid on the value of Australia’s exports in the short term.
Poitrel goes to contractor
March 13 - 19, 2006
AUSTRALIA: LEIGHTON Contractors has won a $A330 million contract to develop the greenfields Poitrel opencut coal mine in central Queensland for BHP Mitsui Coal.
Steam rises on heating demand
February 16 - 22, 2006
PRICE negotiations for semi-soft coking coal and steam coal have stalled for a while, with a Mexican stand-off developing due to the rapid recovery in the spot price of steam coal.
Gunnedah rights to BHPB
February 16 - 22, 2006
AUSTRALIA: A FIVE-year exploration licence awarded by the New South Wales Government to resources giant BHP Billiton could herald the start of a massive build-up in investment activity in the state’s Gunnedah Basin over the next decade.
Talks set new pricing tone
February 2 - 8, 2006
THE most interesting outcome of the JFY 2006 metallurgical coal settlements is the emergence of a very large price differential between hard coking coal and the other grades of metallurgical coal. Although negotiations are far from complete, the general picture for JFY 2006 pricing is now fairly clear, with premium hard coking coal settling at around $US115/tonne, low-volatile PCI coal ranging from $US63/t to over $US65/t, and initial semi-soft settlements at $US53/t.
Maruwai progress
February 2 - 8, 2006
INDONESIA: BHP Billiton’s plans to develop the $US350 million greenfield Maruwai metallurgical coal field in Kalimantan, Indonesia, are moving up a gear with the feasibility study kicking off this quarter.
Mmamabula heat set to rise
February 2 - 8, 2006
BOTSWANA: ANGLO American-controlled Kumba Resources Ltd has stepped up activity on Botswana’s Mmamabula coalfield — a contiguous part of the structure hosting South Africa’s prolific Waterberg mines — by pushing ahead with a pre-feasibility study on development of Mmamabula Central.
Mixed fortunes for Elk Valley
February 2 - 8, 2006
FORDING Canadian Coal Trust chief executive Jim Popowich was warning observers as early as mid-2005 about the possible negative impact of global heavy earthmover tyre shortages on the coal production of 60%-owned Elk Valley Coal (EVC), the world’s second largest supplier of seaborne hard coking coal. The warnings fell largely on deaf ears.
Supply surge meets meeker demand
January 19 - 25, 2006
THERE is virtually unanimous consensus among analysts and coal traders that contract price cuts across all types of coal types for next year are now almost a certainty.
Talbot calls for greater cooperation on exports
January 19 - 25, 2006
AUSTRALIA: MACARTHUR Coal boss Ken Talbot has again urged coal industry and government leaders to support expansion of the country’s coal supply infrastructure or risk missing out on spoils of unprecedented growth in global coal demand.
Excel discredits Visa report
January 19 - 25, 2006
AUSTRALIA: EXCEL Coal Ltd has labelled a Hindu Business Line report that its subsidiary Millennium Coal was acquired by minority Millennium shareholder Visa Group as false and misleading. In a press statement, Australian Stock Exchange-listed Excel said the “incorrect” HBL report also indicated Visa would source Millennium coal at a concessional rate.