News Flash 5 October 2011

Financial Mail

Southern chief warns over shale gas future

The boom in the availability of cheap US shale gas may prove to be a temporary phenomenon, stifled by environmental concerns or a lack of infrastructure, the head of the largest US utility by market capitalisation has warned. Thomas Fanning, chief executive of Georgia-based Southern Company, told the Financial Times that a “rush to gas” for power generation risked making US electricity prices higher and more volatile. Read More....

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Financial Mail

Indulgence of such talk has fuelled uncertainty about the wisdom of long-term capital investments.

For several years now, if you are a member of the peripatetic banking set, a delicious prospect has softened the psychological impact of the onset of the northern autumn: it is about now that plans are finalised for February’s Cape Town mining indaba. Read More....

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Mining Weekly

Miners study rail and port options for Mozambique

Ncondezi Coal, which forms part of the Mozambique Coal Export Infrastructure Initiative (MCIEI) with Rio Tinto and Minas de Revuboe, said that the new port would be capable of handling Cape-sized vessels with an initial 25-million tons a year capacity, but that it could be expanded to 100-million tons a year. Read More....

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Washington Post

 U.S. is energy-rich, but most of that wealth lies in potentially toxic coal

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney argues that the United States is an “energy-rich nation” that is “living like an energy-poor nation.” It’s a catchy turn of phrase, to be sure. And Romney’s point raises some interesting questions. How does the United States stack up against other developed nations in terms of fossil-fuel stores? How does our supply compare to our long-term need? Why are we paying so much for imported oil if we’re sitting on vast energy supplies? Read More....

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Market Watch

FuelCell Energy Announces $3.0 Million Award for Carbon Capture Utilizing Direct FuelCells(R)

FuelCell Energy, Inc. FCEL -2.17% , a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean, efficient and reliable power plants, today announced a $3.0 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to evaluate the use of Direct FuelCells(R) (DFC(R)) to efficiently and cost-effectively separate carbon dioxide (CO2) from the emissions of existing coal-fired power plants. Efficient and cost-effective carbon capture can then lead to sequestration of this greenhouse gas, preventing its release into the atmosphere. Read More....

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Business Report

Mine capex to rise

Miners will splash out more on building new mines in 2012, despite recent falls in industrial metals prices, in the belief that new projects are needed in coming years to satisfy China's voracious appetite. Read More....

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Financial Mail

Stoking but not moving

Coal of Africa (CoA) is steaming ahead with the development of new mines at Vele and Makhado but shareholders will probably have to brace themselves for a request for funding. CEO John Wallington told a press conference last week that additional funds, to be raised through a combination of debt and equity, would have to be in place in the first half of next year as it was hoped that construction of the Makhado mine could begin by midyear. Read More....

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Business Day

AfDB, Eskom sign $365m renewable energy loans

Electricity utility Eskom and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have signed two loan agreements for a total value of US$365m that will enable the first large-scale implementation of renewable wind and solar generation in Eskom’s history. Read More....