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Coal Baron Digs a Deeper Hole – by Elliot Negin (Huffington Post – February 3, 2014)

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Elliott Negin is the director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Robert E. “Bob” Murray, the pugnacious owner of Ohio-based coal giant Murray Energy Corp., keeps his lawyers busy. Besides appealing safety fines, over the past few years his company has sued two news organizations — the Charleston Gazette and Huffington Post — for defamation and the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration for levying “unfounded and baseless violation citations.”

More recently, the company turned it up a notch, announcing it will sic its lawyers on the Environmental Protection Agency. Why? The company — the largest producer of underground coal in the country — alleges that the agency has illegally ignored the impact of Clean Air Act enforcement on jobs in the coal industry.

“Over the past five years, EPA has waged what can fairly be described as a war on coal, repeatedly and consistently encouraging sources to switch from coal to other fuels, to shut down coal-fired sources, and to avoid constructing new coal-fired sources, all through EPA’s administration and enforcement of the Clean Air Act,” the company’s law firm, Squire Sanders, stated in a January 21 “notice of intent” letter, which plaintiffs are required to file in advance of suing a federal agency.

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Great Barrier Reef Sediment Dump Approved For One Of World’s Most Fragile Ecosystems – by Kristen Gelineau (Huffington Post/Associated Press – January 31, 2014)

 http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

SYDNEY (AP) — The government agency that oversees Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on Friday approved a plan to dump vast swathes of sediment on the reef as part of a major coal port expansion — a decision that environmentalists say will endanger one of the world’s most fragile ecosystems.

The federal government in December approved the expansion of the Abbot Point coal port in northern Queensland, which requires a massive dredging operation to make way for ships entering and exiting the port. About 3 million cubic meters (106 million cubic feet) of dredged mud will be dumped within the marine park under the plan.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt has vowed that “some of the strictest conditions in Australian history” will be in place to protect the reef from harm, including water quality measures and safeguards for the reef’s plants and animals.

But outraged conservationists say the already fragile reef will be gravely threatened by the dredging, which will occur over a 184-hectare (455-acre) area. Apart from the risk that the sediment will smother coral and seagrass, the increased shipping traffic will boost the risk of accidents, such as oil spills and collisions with delicate coral beds, environment groups argue.

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Coral or coal decision looms for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – by Sonali Paul (January 30, 2014)

 http://in.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE – (Reuters) – Australia’s Great Barrier Reef watchdog is to decide by Friday whether to allow millions of cubic metres of dredged mud to be dumped near the fragile reef to create the world’s biggest coal port and possibly unlock $28 billion in coal projects.

A dumping permit would allow a major expansion of the port of Abbot Point for two Indian firms and Australian billionaire miner Gina Rinehart, who together have $16 billion worth of coal projects in the untapped, inland Galilee Basin.

The Galilee Basin could double Australia’s thermal coal exports and see it overtake Indonesia as the world’s top coal exporter, further fuelling China’s power plants and steel mills that have underpinned Australia’s decade-long mining boom.

If the permit is not granted it would add to uncertainty over $28 billion in proposed Galilee Basin projects, already delayed due to difficulty raising funds with coal prices down.

The plan has sparked protests from environmentalists and scientists who fear the sensitive marine park will be damaged by the dumping and an expanded port, would nearly double shipping traffic through the reef, increasing the risk of accidents.

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Andrew Forrest strikes cheap coal deal to end Pakistan slavery – by Dennis Shanahan (The Australian – January 23, 2014)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business

AUSTRALIAN mining billionaire and philanthropist, Andrew Forrest, has struck an informal deal with Pakistan to do away with more than two million slaves in return for a chance to convert billions of tonnes of cheap coal into much needed energy.

Using Australian technology developed at Western Australia’s Curtin University, Mr Forrest has signed an agreement with the Pakistani State of Punjab to test the feasibility of turning currently uneconomic lignite coal directly into diesel for use in the energy-starved region.

In a linked agreement with Mr Forrest’s Walk Free Foundation, aimed at ending slavery, Pakistan has agreed to introduce laws to cut the practice of slavery through indenture, debt or inheritance.

Mr Forrest, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the agreement was an exciting development which could eliminate slavery in Pakistan and completely transform the Pakistani economy which was dependent on expensive foreign oil imports.

”The goal is energy independence for the Punjab and the eradication of slavery in all of the Punjab, a province of 100 million,” Mr Forrest said.

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Record iron-ore and coal production at BHP Billiton’s operations – by Staff (Business Day Live – January 22, 2014)

http://www.bdlive.co.za/ [South Africa]

GLOBAL resources group BHP Billiton has reported a strong operational performance for the six months ended December 2013, with production records achieved across 10 operations and several commodities.

Releasing its operational update for the second half of the year on Wednesday, the group said it had maintained strong momentum in the period. Full-year production guidance was retained for its petroleum, copper, iron-ore and coal businesses.

Iron-ore production was up 19% in the half-year to a record 98-million tonnes, while metallurgical coal production rose 22% to a record 22-million tonnes. Alumina production improved 8% to a record 2.6-million tonnes.

“A strong operating performance across our diversified portfolio in the December 2013 half-year delivered a 10% increase in production, and volumes are expected to grow 16% over the two years to the end of the 2015 financial year,” CEO Andrew Mackenzie said.

“Iron ore and metallurgical coal were particularly strong and are very well positioned to achieve guidance, notwithstanding the general uncertainty that exists as we enter the wet season,” he added.

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Why Colombia halted a US company’s coal exports – by John Otis (Global Post – January 20, 2014)

 http://www.globalpost.com/

Drummond Co. helped make Colombia the world’s No. 4 coal exporter. But after alleged dirty deeds, now Bogota’s punishing the Alabama firm.

BOGOTA, Colombia — By shipping 80,000 tons of coal per day, the Alabama-based Drummond Co. has helped turned Colombia into the world’s fourth largest coal exporter — but it’s always been a dirty business.

From Drummond’s Caribbean port near the resort city of Santa Marta, cranes loaded Drummond coal onto open-air barges for delivery to ships. This process kicked up coal dust that fouled the air, water and beaches, angering local fishermen, beachgoers, hotel owners and environmental activists.

But it all came to a halt Jan. 13 after the Colombian government ordered Drummond to stop loading coal until it meets new environmental standards. Under a Colombian law that took effect Jan. 1, coal must now be loaded directly onto ships via enclosed conveyor belts, a much cleaner system.

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Coal mining, selenium, and the costs of toxic pollutants – by Mark Hume (Globe and Mail – January 20, 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.

VANCOUVER — Sutton Lake, near Wilmington, North Carolina, isn’t a place many British Columbians have heard about. But it might not be long before it is cited in court documents here, because of a study that quantifies the cost of replacing fish killed by pollutants.

The 1,100-acre lake was created in 1971 on land owned by Duke Energy to cool water coming from the Sutton Steam Plant. To form the lake, the power company had to dam a creek, which the state government approved only on the condition the reservoir was developed as a public fishery.

The company agreed – and soon had created a place where the fishing was so good it became the focus of bass tournaments.

Sutton Lake, however, was also polluted with selenium leaching from coal ash stored in nearby waste pits. And that’s why Sutton Lake is relevant in Canada, where selenium pollution produced by coal, uranium and bitumen extraction is of growing concern.

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COLUMN-China moves to cut coal use look bearish for imports, may not be – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – January 17, 2014)

http://in.reuters.com/

Clyde Russell is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Coal miners in Australia and Indonesia could be forgiven for feeling depressed, given the plethora of news coming out from top buyer China on how it intends to cut demand for the dirty fuel.

In the past few days China’s National Energy Administration has set a target of lowering coal’s share of energy use to below 65 percent in 2014 from last year’s 65.7 percent, three years ahead of initial plans. Beijing’s mayor has urged an “all-out effort” to tackle air pollution, pledging to cut coal use by 2.5 million tonnes a year in his polluted city.

In neighbouring Hebei province, the country’s biggest steel-making region, authorities have said they will block new projects, punish officials in areas of high pollution, and cut steel output and coal use by 15 million tonnes each this year.

This all sounds bearish for coal, and the gloom of miners that export to China could be deepened by signs that domestic supply in the biggest producer and user of the fuel is rising.

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Rio Tinto Slashes Costs as Iron-Ore, Coal Output Hit Records – by David Stringer and Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – January 16, 2014)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Rio Tinto Group (RIO), the world’s second-largest mining company, beat its 2013 cost-cutting targets as fourth-quarter iron ore production advanced to a record on increased Chinese demand.

Output climbed 7 percent to 55.5 million metric tons last quarter from 52 million tons a year earlier, London-based Rio said today in a statement, in-line with the 55.7 million-ton median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Rio cut cash costs by more than $2 billion and halved exploration spending across its suite of commodities to $948 million last year, beating the targets set by Chief Executive Officer Sam Walsh after he replaced Tom Albanese in February following failed aluminum and coal deals. The cuts came even as production of iron ore, thermal coal and bauxite rose to records, Walsh said.

“What Rio is trying to articulate is that it’s delivering on its promises, it has a very solid business and it’s leveraged to the iron ore price,” said Peter Esho, chief market analyst at Invast Financial Services Pty. in Sydney.

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Bennett resists calls for wider review of coal project – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – January 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.

VANCOUVER — British Columbia will review parts of a proposed coal export project under its jurisdiction but is unlikely to weigh in on other concerns, including whether Port Metro Vancouver should export more U.S.-mined thermal coal, provincial Mines Minister Bill Bennett said.

“As a minister who believes in natural resource extraction and understands the very important connection between resource development and the Canadian economy in general and the B.C. economy in particular, I don’t think we can pick commodities or pick particular industries and say, ‘Well, we don’t like that – we’re not going to do that one,’” Mr. Bennett said Tuesday.

“The rules and regulations and standards apply to everyone,” he added. “And if you want to build something or do something in B.C. and you can meet those rules and regulations and standards, then it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what commodity you’re dealing with – if you meet those standards, you should get a permit for what you want to do.”

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China approves massive new coal capacity despite pollution fears – by David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – January 7, 2014)

http://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) – China approved the construction of more than 100 million tonnes of new coal production capacity in 2013 – six times more than a year earlier and equal to 10 percent of U.S. annual usage – flying in the face of plans to tackle choking air pollution.

The scale of the increase, which only includes major mines, reflects Beijing’s aim to put 860 million tonnes of new coal production capacity into operation over the five years to 2015, more than the entire annual output of India.

While efforts to curb pollution mean coal’s share of the country’s energy mix is set to dip, the total amount of the cheap and plentiful fuel burned will still rise.

According to data compiled by Reuters, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top planning authority, approved the construction of 15 new large-scale coal mines with 101.3 million tonnes of annual capacity in 2013.

“Given that China’s total energy consumption is still growing along with the economy, then coal production will continue to grow,” said Helen Lau, senior commodities analyst with UOB Kay Hian in Hong Kong.

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Doorway to opportunity: B.C. coal town hopes for revival – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – December 27, 2013)

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.

TUMBLER RIDGE, B.C – Inside the Dinosaur Discovery Gallery in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., a set of two large doors symbolize past pain and future optimism for the coal industry in northeastern British Columbia and the region’s ties to Asia.

After years in storage, the doors finally went on display this past summer, with the entrance handles together forming the Quintette coal project’s logo. The Quintette mine opened in 1982 and supplied Japanese steel mills, but it closed in 2000 amid low coal prices.

The local economy seemed so depressed that the mine’s owner, Vancouver-based Teck Resources Ltd., donated the doors for museum purposes because the company’s executives thought the closing would be permanent and no longer needed for the glass office building on Quintette’s sprawling site near Tumbler Ridge.

“These doors originally were worth roughly $100,000 and they are quite heavy,” said Richard McCrea, curator at the Peace Region Paleontology Research Centre, which houses the gallery. He marvels at the thick aluminum doors, featuring a pewter exterior with artwork that depicts trucks at an open-pit mine in British Columbia and blast furnaces used for steel making in Asia.

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Where Arctic camels once roamed, coal mining can wait – by CBC News North (December 24, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/north/

A coal exploration project proposing to tread the same ground as the ancient fossil forests on Nunavut’s Ellesmere Island has been temporarily put on the shelf.

Canada Coal has delayed its exploration program on Ellesmere Island for at least a year, and withdrawn its application to Nunavut regulators, saying it needs more time to address a host of concerns raised by people in nearby Grise Fiord and scientists across Canada and the U.S. Canada Coal’s active exploration licenses cover more than 7000 square kilometres, mostly on Ellesmere’s Fosheim Peninsula. The company had proposed to set up a 20 to 30-person field camp next summer in order to map and drill for coal the region.

However, the project was controversial. The Fosheim Peninsula is a renowned source of unique fossils, including alligators, turtles and primates that lived on the Arctic Island 50 million years ago, as well as beavers and horses that occupied the site just a few million years ago.

“Frankly, when you discover something new, something people have never seen before, or something that really fills in an important piece of a puzzle, it’s a thrill,” says Jim Basinger, a paleontologist at the University of Saskatchewan.

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NEWS RELEASE: Sherritt to Divest of Coal Assets for $946 Million and Focus on Core Businesses

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Dec. 24, 2013) –

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Sherritt International Corporation (“Sherritt” or “the Corporation”) (TSX:S) today announced it is divesting its coal business for total consideration of $946 million.

A group led by Altius Minerals Corp., will acquire Sherritt’s entire royalty portfolio and its interest in coal development assets for cash consideration of $481 million, subject to closing adjustments.

Westmoreland Coal Company (“Westmoreland”) will acquire Sherritt’s operating coal assets, currently described as the Prairie and Mountain Operations, for total consideration of $465 million, comprised of $312 million in cash and the assumption of capital leases presently valued at $153 million, subject to closing adjustments.

“Today’s transaction to divest the coal business is the culmination of a competitive bidding process which has extended over several months. It simplifies our asset portfolio to concentrate on our core strengths, enhances our liquidity, and provides us with the opportunity to reduce our debt,” said David Pathe, Sherritt’s President and CEO.

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Tale of Two Polish Mines Shows Biggest EU Producer’s Woes – by Maciej Martewicz and Marek Strzeleck (Bloomberg News – December 23, 2013)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Stock markets aren’t usually a subject of discussion when you’re a kilometer underground, yet Dariusz Batyra isn’t a typical Polish miner.

“I check the share price each day,” said Batyra, 39, a senior foreman at the mine run by Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA, one of three coal companies in Poland not controlled by the government. “Everybody does in here.”

The performance of his employer compared with competitor Kompania Weglowa SA, the biggest producer in the European Union, explains why. Since debuting on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2009, Bogdanka has more than doubled in value as profits rose every year but one. It has done so even as the price of coal more than halved since 2008, when the global financial crisis took hold, pushing Kompania Weglowa to the brink of collapse.

Another year of diverging fortunes for the two miners underscores the contrast in an industry that’s struggled to adapt to the reality of the free market almost a quarter of a century after communism ended in Poland.

Bogdanka employs about 5,000 and analysts expect net income of 313.5 million zloty ($103 million) for 2013, making it the most profitable of seven Polish coal producers.

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