Follow us on twitter!News Flash 28 April 2011
Fin24
Study to help SA decide on fracking
The government will neither accept new applications nor finalise current bids for shale gas exploration until its own feasibility study on the matter is finalised, the department of minerals said on Friday.
"Given the intensity and scale of the issue and the fact that this (shale gas exploration) has never been done before in our shores, my department will conduct a comprehensive study which will assist us to formulate our approach after which we will go back to cabinet," Minerals Minister Susan Shabangu said. Read More.....
Reuters
Google Servers Powered Increasingly by Wind
Google signed a second power purchase agreement (PPA) to increase the share of electricity it consumes in its data centers from renewable energy.
Under a PPA, companies sign a 20 year agreement which locks in electric prices.
Last year, its Google Energy subsidiary signed a PPA with a NextEra wind project in Iowa to buy 114 megawatts (MW) of wind for 20 years.
Read More.....
Business Report
Coal of Africa increases quarterly output
Junior mining firm, Coal of Africa (CoAL), yesterday reported a boost in production at its two Mpumalanga operations. The Johannesburg and Australian listed company released its quarterly results in which it announced that the production at Mooiplaats and Woestalleen thermal collieries was up to 1.1 million tons of run of mine from 954 914 tons. Read More.....
Miningmx
State to appeal mining rights ruling
THE state indicated on Friday it would appeal a judgment by the North Gauteng High Court, which ruled that a holder of a deprived and expropriated old order mineral rights was entitled to compensation.
This came after the court had delivered a landmark judgment on the merits of a compensation claim against the minister of mineral resources.
The court found that the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Development Act (MPRDA) had deprived and expropriated the holder of an old order coal right of its property when the MPRDA was enacted on May 1 2004. Read More.....
Bloomberg
Saskatchewan Approves $1.3 Billion Project to Test Carbon Capture Systems
Countries from China to the U.S. are looking for ways to reduce the environmental impact of burning coal for heat and power to take advantage of plentiful supplies of the fossil fuel. Canada is spending $4.9 billion on carbon capture research, compared with $5.1 billion in the U.S., according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Coal demand is projected to increase 20 percent from 2008 to 2020, according to the International Energy Agency.
Read More.....
Platts
China coal-fired power generation share to drop to 30% by 2050: study
The use of coal-fired power plants in China to generate electricity will drop to as low as 30% by 2050 after the fossil fuel accounted for 74% of the country's electricity generation in 2005, according to a study released Thursday by the US-based Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The forecast is one of many made by the authors of the study, which analyzed current and past energy infrastructure and electricity demand trends in China in an effort to predict the future of the country's energy use and output of greenhouse gases linked to global warming. Read More.....
ABC
Macfarlane says the unthinkable
In the Howard years, Macfarlane championed carbon capture and storage, declaring‘ in 2007 that ‘adopting clean coal technology will be one of the most important actions Australia takes to address greenhouse emissions’. Two years later: “You can talk about all the stuff you like about carbon capture storage—that concept will not materialise for 20 years, and probably never.” Read More.....
Mining Weekly
Riversdale drops output as rains affect ZAC
Southern Africa-focused coal miner Riversdale Mining on Friday reported a 20 455 t decrease in production from its Zululand Anthracite Colliery (Zac), in South Africa, following adverse weather conditions. The miner reported that during the three months to March, the Zac operation had produced some 191 083 t of run-of-mine coal, well below the 211 538 t produced during the previous quarter. Full Article.....
Rio takes control of Riversdale board, seeks delisting
Diversified giant Rio Tinto on Friday assumed control of ASX-listed coal miner Riversdale Mining’s board, announcing that it would seek to de-list the company at the end of the takeover bid. Rio appointed its energy CEO Doug Ritchie as the new chairperson of Riversdale, as well as the COO of coal Australia, Darren Yeates, and VP for human resources Rosemary Fagen to the board of directors
Full Article.....
