Weekly coal news highlights: 31 August – 4 September 2015

A round-up of weekly coal news highlights

Coal supply

• Dakota Westmoreland Corp. enters into an extension of its long-term coal supply agreement with Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. to supply coal from the Beulah mine to the R.M. Heskett power plant.
• Mechel, a leading Russian mining and metals companies, signs a three-year agreement for coal supplies with JFE Steel corp., an Asian steel mill.

Projects

• The Supreme Court rejects appeals from anti-mining activists to GVK Hancock’s environmental approvals for the Alpha coal project.
• Aspire Mining enters funding agreement with Signum Resources to meet the first stage of the bankable feasibility study for the Erdenent to Ovoot rail project.
• The completion of the Concession Agreement to build and operate the Erdenet to Ovoot railway (rail project) is executed during signing ceremonies in Mongolia and China.

Agreements and acquisitions

• Neville Bergin completes agreement with Wardell Armstrong International to represent the engineering, environmental and mining consultancy in Australia.
• Superior Industries, Inc. acquires Parcan Group, a Brazilian-based manufacturer of conveyor idlers and pulleys.
• Chinese regional authorities and the Hunter region sign the first regional Chinese memorandum of understanding at AIMEX 2015.

  Coal mining

  • According to a report from the US Energy Information Agency, US coal mining productivity increased in 2013, as a result of large mines improving productivity, developments in mining technology and closures of small mines.
  • Westmoreland Coal’s Jewett mine has been presented with the 2014 Sentinels of Safety Award from the National Mining Association and the 2015 Railroad Commission of Texas Coal Mining Reclamation Award.
  • Federal Minister for Industry and Science, the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP opens Whitehaven Coal’s surface coal mine at Maules Creek in Australia.

  Technological developments

  • The Indian School of Mines and Curtin University will launch the Australia-India Joint Research Centre for Coal and Energy Technology, which will work on technology development for energy with a focus on clean coal technologies.
  • Chris Rehmann, AESSEAL Inc, looks at how the latest advances in double mechanical seals and tank systems can significantly reduce a mine’s water footprint.

  Not to be missed …

  • The World Coal Association urges Bonn climate negotiators to take positive action to promote low-emission technologies.
  • Britain's coal-fired Eggborough power plant will cease operations at the end of March 2016 due too an unstable financial position.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/04092015/weekly-coal-news-highlights-31-august-4-september-2015-2816/