Coal – Page 111 – Republic of Mining

Modi needs to reform electricity to power India recovery – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – May 19, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON Australia – (Reuters) – Narendra Modi’s crushing election win has given rise to hopes for an economic revival in India, but much will depend on whether he can replicate the electricity success of his home state.

India’s financial markets have been buoyed by Modi’s victory, betting that the Hindu nationalist politician can work the same economic wonders for the whole country that he did while running the western state of Gujarat for 13 years.

The alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 336 of the 543 seats in India’s lower house of parliament when election results were announced last week, giving India a majority government for the first time in a quarter of a century.

While Modi’s authority will be bolstered by the massive win and his legislative programme will be easier to implement given he doesn’t need to negotiate with coalition partners, the scale of the challenge facing him is enormous.

India is structurally short of electricity, and it’s hard to see how the economy can be ramped up significantly, especially in power-hungry sectors such as manufacturing, without the provision of reliable power at prices high enough to ensure sustainable supply, but not so high as to choke growth.

UPDATE 4-Turkey keeps three suspects in custody in mine disaster probe – by Humeyra Pamuk (Reuters India – May 19, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey, May 18 (Reuters) – A Turkish court ordered three suspects to be kept in custody on Sunday on a provisional charge of “causing multiple deaths” in last week’s mine disaster, as the last of the 301 victims were buried.

Of the remaining 22 people detained earlier, six suspects have been released but could face prosecution later. Questioning of the other 16 people was continuing. The detentions came five days after a fire sent deadly carbon monoxide coursing through the mine in the western Turkish town of Soma, causing the county’s worst ever industrial accident.

The disaster has sparked protests across Turkey, directed at mine owners accused of ignoring safety for profit, and at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government, seen as too close to industry bosses and insensitive in its response.

An initial report on the possible causes of the accident indicated the fire may have been triggered by coal heating up after it came into contact with the air, Prosecutor Bekir Sahiner told reporters outside the Soma courthouse, rejecting initial reports that a transformer explosion was responsible.

Turkey’s Preventable Tragedy – by Ozgur Ozelmay (New York Times – May 20, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

Ozgur Ozel is a Republican People’s Party deputy representing the Soma-Manisa district in Turkey’s Parliament. This essay was translated by Zeynep Tufekci from the Turkish.

MANISA, Turkey — On the morning of May 13, Turkey finally woke up from its deep slumber on workplace safety — but at the cost of 301 lives. The subterranean fire last week at the Soma coal mine in western Turkey was the worst mining disaster in the country’s history. Hundreds of hardworking men in the district I represent are dead. And sadly, their deaths could have been prevented.

As early as last September, I had petitioned the Turkish Parliament to create a commission of inquiry, which is one way that the legislature can use its powers to oversee industry in Turkey. Ever since the Soma mine was privatized in 2005, the price of extracting coal has gone down dramatically — and so have safety conditions for workers.

My proposal merely called for research on previous mining accidents in Soma, inspections of the mine, and finding solutions. Along with other members of Parliament, I also urged Turkey to ratify the International Labor Organization’s convention on mine safety; if Turkey had signed the I.L.O. convention, there would have been mandatory alternative exits from the mine that could have saved lives.

Mine Disaster Casts Harsh Light on Turkey’s Premier – by TIM ARANGO, KAREEM FAHIM and SEBNEM ARSUMAY (New York Times – May 16, 2014)

May 16, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

SOMA, Turkey — There was no one to treat in the first aid tents near the entrance to the mine, where nearby an old woman wailed, “Our children are burning!” A man and his wife, dazed from a lack of sleep, walked the muddy grounds, looking for information that no one in the government could provide.

“This is how they steal people’s lives,” said the grieving father, Bayram Uckun, who like many here has become increasingly angry with the government for its response to the disaster. “This government is taking our country back 90 years.”

The body of Mr. Uckun’s son, and those of at least 17 other men, was almost certainly still trapped underground, after the deadliest industrial accident in Turkey’s modern history. But with the death toll from Tuesday’s accident expected to rise above 300, this disaster has quickly metastasized from a local tragedy into a new political crisis for the Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Relatives wept during a funeral service on Thursday in Soma, Turkey. Officials have confirmed 284 deaths in the mining accident, Turkey’s worst.Public Discontent Rises as Families Gather to Bury Victims of Turkish Mine DisasterMAY 15, 2014
Labor unions staged a one-day national strike on Friday as security forces shot tear gas and water cannons at protesters in Soma, in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul.

Turkey in mourning (Northern Miner Editorial – May 14, 2014)

May 15, 2014

The Northern Miner, first published in 1915, during the Cobalt Silver Rush, is considered Canada’s leading authority on the mining industry.

Outside of the all-too regular horrors of China’s underground mines, the coal mine explosion on May 13 at Soma, 250 km south of Istanbul in western Turkey, is the worst mine disaster in recent memory.

The death toll stood at 274 and counting at press time, with some 450 miners having been rescued and many dozens still missing. The workings — which extend at least 420 metres — were still being vented of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, and fires were still burning. The Turkish government has declared three days of national mourning.

The Soma disaster has beaten Turkey’s previous worst mining disaster: a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Initial reports out of Soma have authorities saying that the disaster followed an explosion and fire caused by a faulty power distribution unit, and the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine at the time of the explosion, and many were injured. A shift change was occurring at the time, so a maximum number of workers were underground.

Regulators Couldn’t Close U.S. Mine Despite Poor Safety Record – by HOWARD BERKES & ANNA BOIKO-WEYRAUCH (Texas Public Radio – May 14, 2014)

May 15, 2014

http://tpr.org/

The West Virginia mine where two workers were fatally injured on Monday consistently violated federal mine safety laws, but federal regulators say they were unable to shut it down completely.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration confirmed that two workers were killed on May 12 when coal and rocks burst from mine walls at Patriot Coal’s Brody No. 1 mine in Boone County, W.Va.

MSHA says one victim was operating a mining machine and the other was drilling bolts into the roof of the mine, a process that prevents rockfalls. But MSHA and Patriot both say the miners were engaged in “retreat mining” at the time, a dangerous practice that involves cutting the coal pillars that hold up the mine roof, yielding the last loads of coal after a coal seam has been fully mined.

Federal data reviewed and analyzed by NPR show serious safety problems at the mine going back to 2007. The threat to miners was so serious and persistent that MSHA responded with one of its toughest enforcement actions. In October of last year, the Brody mine was designated a “pattern violator” and received extra regulatory scrutiny.

Patriot objected, blaming the troubled safety record and pattern of violations on a previous owner. NPR’s review of data from MSHA reveals serious safety issues under Patriot management that put miners at risk of injury or death.

UPDATE 2-Mass funerals, mounting anger as Turkey mourns mine workers – by Ece Toksabay (Reuters India – May 15, 2014)

May 15, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey, May 15 (Reuters) – Loudspeakers broadcast the names of the dead and excavators dug mass graves in this close-knit Turkish mining town on Thursday, while protesters gathered in major cities as grief turned to anger following the country’s deadliest industrial disaster.

Rescuers were still trying to reach parts of the coal mine in Soma, 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul, almost 48 hours after fire knocked out power and shut down the ventilation shafts and elevators, trapping hundreds underground.

At least 282 people have been confirmed dead, mostly from carbon monoxide poisoning, and hopes are fading of pulling out any more alive of the 100 or so still thought to be inside.

Anger has swept a country that has boasted a decade of rapid economic growth under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government but which still suffers from one of the world’s worst workplace safety standards.

Furious residents heckled Erdogan and jostled his entourage on Wednesday as he toured the town, angry at what they see as the government’s cosiness with mining tycoons, its failure to ensure safety and a lack of information on the rescue effort.

Engineers hurl scandalous accusations after Turkish mine fire kills hundreds – by Ben Brumfield, Gul Tuysuz and Diana Magnay (CNN.com – May 15, 2014)

May 15, 2014

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

Soma, Turkey (CNN) — Turkey’s President spoke words of comfort to loved-ones of the nearly 300 miners who have died in a mine fire, a day after the Prime Minister was blasted over comments seen as insensitive.

The deadly mine fire in Turkey is a “sorrow for the whole Turkish nation,” President Abdullah Gul told reporters Thursday. He offered his condolences to the victims’ families.

Onlookers listened silently until a man interrupted Gul with shouts: “Please, president! Help us, please!” An investigation into the deadly Turkey mine disaster has begun, Gul said. “I’m sure this will shed light” on what regulations are needed. “Whatever is necessary will be done,” he said.

He commended mining as a precious profession. “There’s no doubt that mining and working … to earn your bread underground perhaps is the most sacred” of undertakings, he told reporters. Gul had entered the mine site with an entourage of many dozens of people — mostly men in dark suits — walking through a crowd of rescue workers who were standing behind loosely assembled police barricades.

Cleaning Up Coal in India (New York Times Editorial – May 12, 2014)

May 15, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

India’s Enforcement Directorate has filed charges of money laundering against a former minister of state for coal, Dasari Narayana Rao, and Naveen Jindal, a member of Parliament who also happens to be chairman of Jindal Steel and Power. This is the latest turn in a major corruption scandal in India, known as Coalgate, in which the coal ministry awarded a handful of companies lucrative mining rights on a noncompetitive basis. The charges are a hopeful sign that India is ready to clean up its coal industry. But much more needs to be done.

Coal mining has long enjoyed sweetheart status in India, whatever the social and environmental costs. An 1894 land acquisition law that became an instrument of abuse, eventually fueling a Maoist insurgency, was finally replaced this year by a statute promising transparency and fair compensation.

Even so, activists are regularly harassed and even assassinated by thugs paid by powerful business interests to force people from their land. Ramesh Agrawal, who used India’s Right to Information Act to expose an illegal coal-mining venture by Jindal Steel and Power in Chhattisgarh, was shot and left for dead after he refused to back off. He accuses Mr. Jindal of ordering the attack. Mr. Agrawal was honored with a 2014 Goldman Environmental Prize for his fight for the communities threatened by the venture.

Hopes fade for survivors after Turkish mine fire kills At least 245 – by Ece Toksabay (Reuters U.K. – May 14, 2014)

May 14, 2014

http://uk.reuters.com/

SOMA, Turkey – (Reuters) – Hopes faded of finding more survivors in a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday, where 245 workers were confirmed killed and around 120 still feared to be trapped in what is likely to prove the nation’s worst ever industrial disaster.

Anger over the deadly fire at the mine about 480 km (300 miles) southwest of Istanbul echoed across a country that has seen a decade of rapid economic growth but still suffers from one of the world’s worst workplace safety records. Opponents blamed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government for privatising the country’s mines and ignoring repeated warnings about their safety.

“We as a nation of 77 million are experiencing a very great pain,” Erdogan told a news conference after visiting the site. But he appeared to turn defensive when asked whether sufficient precautions had been in place at the mine. “Explosions like this in these mines happen all the time. It’s not like these don’t happen elsewhere in the world,” he said, reeling off a list of global mining accidents since 1862.

Fire knocked out power and shut down ventilation shafts and elevators shortly after 3 pm (1 p.m.BST) on Tuesday. Emergency workers pumped oxygen into the mine to try to keep those trapped alive during a rescue effort that lasted through the night.

Turkish coal mine disaster cranks up pressure on miners, utilities – by Henning Gloystein (Reuters India – May 14, 2014)

May 14, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) – A coal mine explosion and fire that has killed over 200 people in Turkey coincides with increased pressure on miners and utilities to drastically improve safety and environmental standards for miners risking their lives.

Coal mining is responsible for more fatalities than the production of any other energy source due to poor working conditions in producing countries such as China, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia and Colombia. It is also a major world polluter.

The disaster in western Turkey, likely to be the country’s deadliest, is still unfolding with hundreds believed to be trapped underground. It’s also the worst in a series of incidents in a sector that has seen 30,000 die since 1970.

A coal mine collapse in the U.S. state of West Virginia killed two workers this week at a facility that had “chronic compliance issues” and received numerous citations from inspectors last year.

Last month, two more workers were killed in Australia after a supporting wall in a coal mine about 240 kilometres (150 miles) west of Sydney gave way, trapping the two men about 500 metres (1,640 feet) below the surface.

Over 200 killed, hundreds trapped after deadly coal mine explosion in Turkey – by Desmond Butler and Suzan Fraser (Globe and Mail May 14, 2014)

May 14, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

SOMA, Turkey — The Associated Press – Rescuers desperately raced against time to reach more than 200 miners trapped underground Wednesday after an explosion and fire at a coal mine in western Turkey killed at least 201 workers, authorities said, in one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Istanbul, at the time of the explosion and 363 of them had been rescued so far.

“Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing,” Yildiz said. Turkey’s worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

As bodies were brought out on stretchers, rescue workers pulled blankets back from the faces of the dead to give jostling crowds of anxious family members a chance to identify victims. One elderly man wearing a prayer cap wailed after he recognized one of the dead, and police restrained him from climbing into an ambulance with the body.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared three days of national mourning, ordering flags to be lowered to half-staff. Erdogan postponed a one-day visit to Albania and planned to visit Soma instead.

Queensland Government announces $16b coal mine in Galilee Basin, subject to Federal approval – by Melinda Howells (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – May 9, 2014)

May 9, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/

The Queensland Government has signed off on a $16 billion coal development in the Galilee Basin in the state’s central region that could become the largest coal mine in Australia.

The Carmichael Coal Mine north-west of Clermont will produce up to 60 million tonnes of coal each year and includes a 189-kilometre rail line. The project, which is being run by Adani Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Adani Group, now goes to the Federal Government for final approval.

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says a processing plant, workers’ accommodation and an airport will also be built. “The coordinator-general has approved the project subject to an extensive list of environmental and social conditions,” he said. “If it proceeds, the Carmichael project would not only be the largest coal mine in Australia but one of the largest in the world.

“But it would also be a vital project in opening up the hugely significant Galilee Basin.” He says the coordinator-general had “worked closely” with the Commonwealth Department of Environment in finalising the report.

UPDATE 1-Stanford University ending investments in coal companies – by Rory Carroll (Reuters India – May 7, 2014)

May 7, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

May 7 (Reuters) – Stanford University said on Tuesday it will no longer use any of its $18.7 billion endowment to invest in coal mining companies, a move aimed at combating climate change that could influence college administrations elsewhere.

The university’s board of trustees agreed with recommendations from a panel of students, faculty, staff and alumni that found investments in alternatives to coal would be less harmful to the environment. The burning of coal for electricity is a major contributor to the output of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions globally.

The Stanford announcement is the most significant to date from a major, well-endowed college or university in the United States amid a growing movement by students around the country to pressure their institutions to divest from fossil fuels.

“The university’s review has concluded that coal is one of the most carbon-intensive methods of energy generation and that other sources can be readily substituted for it,” said Stanford President John Hennessy.

It was announced on the same day the White House released a report warning that climate change was already affecting the United States in the form of more severe droughts in some areas and more intense storms in others.

Asian coal demand is set for robust revival, study says – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – May 5, 2014)

May 5, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

SEATTLE — Global coal markets are depressed amid a supply glut, but reports of the commodity’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, a new study says.

Prices for thermal coal, a commodity used by power plants to generate electricity, fell recently to less than $75 (U.S.) a tonne, compared with $190 in mid-2008. And prices for metallurgical (or coking) coal, a key ingredient used in the production of steel, have tumbled to $120 a tonne, from $300 in late 2011.

Some industry observers have warned that there will be many more dark months ahead for the coal industry. But the long-term forecast calls for robust Asian demand, which should give producers hope, as long as they are able to ride out the tough times.

“Despite increasing environmental opposition to the use of coal, coal still plays a crucial role in the global energy mix and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future,” according to a study by Shoichi Itoh, senior analyst at the Tokyo-based Institute of Energy Economics. “The importance of coal use will be all the more important in Asia.”