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Sale of B.C. coal mines to Glencore was bad deal for Canada: report – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – July 22, 2024)

https://www.biv.com/

MiningWatch report question’s Swiss mining giant’s track record

Canadian and British mining watchdogs are criticizing the Trudeau government’s approval of the sale of B.C. steel-making coal mines to Glencore Plc, saying it’s a bad deal for Canada.

On July 4, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, François-Philippe Champagne, approved the sale of 77 per cent of the B.C. metallurgical coal mines (Elk Valley Resources) owned by Teck Resources in the southeastern Kootenays to Glencore plc for $9.5 billion. The sale closed July 11.

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Demand for rare elements used in clean energy could help clean up abandoned coal mines in Appalachia – by Marc Levy (Associated Press/Arizona Daily Star – July 15, 2024)

https://tucson.com/

MOUNT STORM, W.Va. — Down a long gravel road, tucked into the hills in West Virginia, is a low-slung building where researchers are extracting essential elements from an old coal mine that they hope will strengthen the nation’s energy future. They aren’t mining the coal that powered the steel mills and locomotives that helped industrialize America — and that is blamed for contributing to global warming.

Rather, researchers are finding that groundwater pouring out of this and other abandoned coal mines contains the rare earth elements and other valuable metals that are vital to making everything from electric vehicle motors to rechargeable batteries to fighter jets smaller, lighter or more powerful.

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A Must-Do Hike With Bird’s-Eye Views Of the Alberta Town That Was Buried Under Rock – by Britanny Burr (Lethbridge Herald – July 15, 2024)

https://lethbridgeherald.com/

Along the scenic Crowsnest Pass Highway, as you drive through the remnants of what once was Turtle Mountain and the town of Frank, be sure to pull over. Here lies the historic site of Canada’s deadliest rockslide, which tragically buried the town in 1903. Follow along as we take a stroll through history and discover why Turtle Mountain is a hike worthy of your bucket list.

Frank Slide is one of those places where nature’s power and human history intersect phenomenally. Back in 1903, in the wee hours of the morning on April 29th, a massive rockslide roared down Turtle Mountain, burying the town of Frank in the Crowsnest Pass. Imagine over 82 million tonnes of limestone crashing down in just 90 seconds, obliterating everything in its path. It remains one of Canada’s deadliest natural disasters.

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Sale of Teck’s steelmaking coal business to Glencore approved (CBC British Columbia/Canadian Press – july 6, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Teck Resources said it expects to receive $9.5 billion from the sale, excluding closing adjustments

The last hurdle in Teck Resources Ltd.’s years-long effort to off-load its coal mining business and become purely a metals producer is cleared after the federal government approved the sale of the operation to Swiss commodities giant Glencore.

In a statement posted Thursday, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the green light comes with “strict” conditions and represents a “much narrower” transaction than Glencore’s hostile takeover attempt of Teck last year.

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Anglo Suspends Production at Australian Steelmaking Coal Mine – by Paul-Alain Hunt and Victoria Cavaliere (Bloomberg News – June 30, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A fire at Anglo American Plc’s biggest metallurgical coal project in Australia halted production, with the miner saying it may take months for it to be extinguished. Anglo, which is seeking to sell the mine as part of a turnaround plan, fell as much as 4%.

A methane explosion on Saturday caused the fire at the Grosvenor underground mine, which accounts for about 30% of the company’s annual production of coking coal in Queensland state, Anglo said in an emailed statement Monday. No one was injured.

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Mining M&A stokes coal race against cleaner power – by Antony Currie (Reuters – June 20, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE, June 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Coal is doomed, or so the energy thesis goes. Many banks, insurers and investors have backpedalled from or abandoned the carbon-belching fossil fuel, prompting companies that excavate it to complain they cannot get mainstream or affordable financing.

One corner of the industry, however, is burning strongly: the coking, or metallurgical, variety used to make steel. For sellers, it’s a diamond underneath the growing pile of mining M&A. Buyers, however, are in a race against low-emissions alternatives to justify their strategies.

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Study finds coal mine contaminants blown onto snowpack in Alberta, British Columbia – by Bob Weber (Canadian Press – June 19, 2024)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

Study finds coal mine contaminants in snowpack

Cancer-causing chemicals are being blown downwind from coal mines in southern British Columbia in concentrations that rival those next to oilsand mines, newly published research has concluded.

“Our results reveal, for the first time, clear evidence that coal mining contaminants are spread far downwind from their sources,” says the paper, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

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Polish-Czech coal mine deal having positive environmental effects (Notes From Poland – June 9, 2024)

Notes from Poland

An agreement between Poland and the Czech Republic to end an environmental dispute over the Turów coal mine, which sits on the Polish side of their shared border, is being successfully implemented and is having a positive effect, the countries have confirmed.

In particular, an underground barrier installed by the mine’s owner, Polish state energy group PGE, has resulted in groundwater levels on the Czech side of the border rising. Their earlier decline had been one of the main complaints from Prague, which took the issue to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in 2021.

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Ranchers to fight coal bid in Alberta court – by lair McBride (Northern Miner – June 6, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Applications to drill for metallurgical coal in southwestern Alberta are pitting ranchers against an exploration company backed by Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Calgary-based Northback Holdings, a subsidiary of Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, submitted applications last year to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) for permits to drill at its Grassy Mountain project in the Crowsnest Pass region.

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Alberta municipality appeals regulator’s decision to accept coal exploration – by Bob Weber (CBC Calagary/Canadian Press -June 3, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

The project has previously been denied by federal and provincial environmental reviews

An Alberta ranching community is fighting a planned hearing on proposed coal exploration in the Rocky Mountains, saying the province’s arm’s-length energy regulator shouldn’t have heeded a letter from its energy minister suggesting an application from Northback Holdings be accepted.

The information is contained in documents released last week by the Alberta Energy Regulator. They outline the Municipal District of Ranchland’s request to appeal the regulator’s ruling that Northback’s plans for Grassy Mountain in southwest Alberta are exempt from an order blocking such development.

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Glencore to consult investors on coal spinoff after Teck deal – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 29, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Glencore Plc will start consulting with shareholders on the future of its coal business as soon as its deal to buy Teck Resources Ltd.’s mines closes later this year. Crucially, Glencore said that should the majority of shareholders support keeping its coal mines, the company will not proceed with a vote.

Glencore’s coal business is one of its most profitable units, driving record returns in recent years, and the plan to exit the fossil fuel and list a new company in New York represented a major strategic pivot under current boss Gary Nagle.

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Global coal phase-out to cost between $200 billion, $2 trillion – study – by Staff (Mining.com – May 16, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Over $200 billion will be given as compensation to workers and local communities affected by coal phase-out programs globally, new research has found. This estimate excludes India and China, as the two largest coal users currently do not have phase-out plans.

According to a recent paper in Nature Communications, if China and India decide to phase out coal as fast as needed to reach the Paris climate targets and pay similar compensation, it would cost upwards of $2 trillion.

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Banned 10 years ago, 26,000 rat-hole coal mines not closed yet: Meghalaya HC panel (Deccan Herald – May 8, 2024)

https://www.deccanherald.com/

Shillong: Not one of the 26,000 abandoned rat-hole coal mines in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district has so far been closed despite an order, posing risk of loss of human lives as well as livestock, the Meghalaya High Court was informed.

The rat-hole mining and transportation of coal in the Himalayan state were banned 10 years ago by the National Green Tribunal. Over 14 lakh metric tons of already mined coal is left to be transported, a one-man committee formed by the high court to monitor the mining and transportation of coal said in its 22nd interim report on Tuesday.

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Top Glencore Shareholders Favor Keeping Coal Over Spinoff – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – April 29, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Several of Glencore Plc’s largest shareholders believe that the company should retain its coal assets, according to people familiar with the matter, throwing a proposed spinoff into doubt.

Glencore, the world’s largest shipper of thermal coal with a market capitalization of about $73 billion, had said it intended to spin the business off within two years of closing a deal to buy the steelmaking coal assets of Teck Resources Ltd.

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Judge orders Alberta to hand over documents related to coal policy – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – April 17, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Alberta government has been ordered by a court to hand over a swath of records pertaining to its 2019 decision to quietly nix a policy governing where coal mines can be built in the province.

The case stems back to 2020, when a group of Southern Alberta ranchers requested records around the United Conservative government’s decision to rescind the province’s 1976 Coal Policy without any consultation. The decision caused public backlash so fierce it forced the government to backpedal and introduce new rules around coal mining.

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