Coal

The South African Chamber of Mines has hit back after Eskom, the country’s state-owned utility, criticised coal quality and supplies, accusing the miners of chasing higher profits by favouring exports.

The disruption to coal production in Australia is prompting power producers to seek elsewhere for their coal supplies.

ExxonMobil’s energy outlook shows rising global energy demand, shift toward natural gas and energy efficiency gains.

Peabody Energy believes the world is in the early stages of a long-term supercycle for coal driven by increasing energy use in China, India and other emerging markets, global growth in steel consumption and a lack of alternative supplies with the cost and scale required.

The board of Riversdale Mining Ltd, including the representative from Tata Steel Ltd (TSL), has unanimously recommended that Riversdale shareholders accept the offer by Rio Tinto to purchase all Riversdale shares for $16.00 cash/share.

WestSide Corp. Ltd, the operator of the Meridian SeamGas CSG gas fields in the Bowen basin, Queensland, Australia, has advised that drilling of a pilot production well commenced on 22 January 2011. The well will be drilled to a depth of 550 m.

Thiess has been awarded a major coal seam gas upstream infrastructure contract in the Surat basin, Queensland, Australia.

Riversdale Mining has surprised the coal industry by planning longer-term price negotiations with its customers for coking and thermal coals.

Coal of Africa Ltd has announced that it has lodged a new order mining right application with the Department of Mineral Resources in the Limpopo Province of South Africa for its Makhado coking coal project.

Verdao Group has listed the largest coal mine methane abatement project with Climate Action Reserve’s Coal Mine Methane Project, which provides an incentive for the voluntary abatement of methane. The project will take place at Consol Energy’s McElroy mine, West Virginia, and use regenerative thermal oxidation technology from Dürr USA to destroy the methane emissions.

Anglo American, one of the world’s largest miners, is partnering with International Alert, a leading peacekeeping NGO that specialises in building sustainable peace in areas affected by violent conflict. The three year partnership aims to promote and implement business practice that will prevent conflict and protect and promote human rights.

Peabody Energy has signed two agreements to develop clean coal in China. The first will see the development of a 2000 MW supercritical power plant substitute natural gas facility; the second, the development of a green coal energy campus including a 1200 MW power plant that will capture CO2 and convert it into green building materials.

The Indonesian Government has announced it intends to ban exports of low-quality coal, starting in 2014. Coal with an energy value of less than 5600 kCal/kg will no longer be exported.

The BP Energy Outlook 2030 is the first of BP’s forward looking analyses to be published after 60 years of producing definitive historical data in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

Arch Coal, Inc. announced an agreement with Canadian Crown Corporation Ridley Terminals Inc. to facilitate coal exports to Pacific Rim markets. The five-year agreement will give Arch throughput capacity at the terminal of up to 2 million t of coal for 2011 and up to 2.5 million t of coal for 2012 through 2015.