Follow us on twitter!News Flash 24th August 2011
Mining Weekly
Whitehaven profit plummets, expansions under way
Despite reporting a 91.3% drop in net profits after tax for the full year ended June, to A$9.9-million, coal miner Whitehaven Coal saw a surge in share prices on Tuesday. The miner reported that underlying net profit after tax, and before significant items, had increased by 33%, to A$73.3-million. However, the total significant items, which included losses incurred on legacy contracts and foreign exchange losses, amounted to A$63.4-million. Read More....
Ecogizmo
UK's Electric Highway rollout includes world's first wind-powered EV charging post
Ecotricity has unveiled plans to install green-energy-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging points at selected motorway service stations running up the UK's automotive backbone. Aiming to help ease range anxiety and speed up the adoption of EVs in Britain, the national network of charging posts will be rolled out to every Welcome Break service station, as well as other key locations, in the UK by the end of the year. Read More....
Mining.com
9 companies that will benefit from rising emerging market demand for coal
Due to its relatively low cost and abundance, coal is used to generate about half of the electricity consumed in the US. Coal is the largest domestically-produced source of energy.
The United States is home to the largest recoverable reserves of coal in the world. In fact, the US has enough coal to last more than 200 years based on current consumption levels. Electricity demand is on the rise as well.
In the United States consumers use almost 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. In China there has seen a 275% increase in 11 years to about 4.5 trillion kilowatt-hours and in India the demand has increased by 62% to 600 billion kilowatt-hours. Currently 80% of global electricity is produced by burning coal. Read More....
Financial Mail
Australian firm gets coal mining permit in Tanzania
Australia’s Intra Energy Corporation (IEC) said its local unit in Tanzania had received a licence for a coal mining project that would initially produce 10 000 tonnes a month and that it planned to build a coal-fired power plant in the east African country. Read More....
TimesLive
'Conservation and coal mine will coexist'
Coal of Africa CEO John Wallington says his company's Vele coking coal project, next door to the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site in Limpopo, will successfully meet SA's requirement for both conservation and development. Read More....
Business Day
Coal sector needs consolidation
JUNIOR coal miners, some of them tiny producers, face pressure to consolidate but the varying quality of their deposits and what are often poor locations will prevent many tie-ups and may force some simply to shut up shop. Struggling with rising costs, ageing mines, unclear regulation and woefully inadequate rail and port export capacity, smaller players face a stark decision: join forces, combine with cash-flush partners — as many have already done — or shut down, analysts and industry executives say. Read More....
Exxaro looks abroad to diversify
EXXARO Resources, SA’s largest black-owned diversified mining company, was studying iron-ore opportunities in Australia, West Africa and SA, as it seeks diversification, which includes adding copper to its suite of assets, executives said yesterday. Exxaro is SA’s second-largest coal producer and is part of a consortium that is one of 18 groups that have responded to the Namibian government’s request for parties to submit expressions of interest to build a railway line from Botswana’s eastern coalfields to a Namibian port. Read More....
Bloomberg
Rotterdam to Expand Port Terminals as More Coal Flows to Europe
Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest port, is expanding its capacity to handle coal shipments to meet “sharply” higher demand for the fuel in Europe in the next few years, according to Karel Peters, a business manager at the hub. The port, which handles 60 percent of seaborne coal to Europe, will receive 27 million metric tons of coal this year, up from 24 million tons last year, Peters said by phone.
The port is investing 50 million euros ($72 million) to expand its coal capacity to 42 million tons by 2018, he said. Germany, Europe’s largest consumer of the fuel, is scheduled to close its eight remaining coal mines by 2018. It is also trying to reduce the use of nuclear power after explosions in Japan’s Fukushima nuclear complex because of the March 11 earthquake. Read More....
