1. Mine owners' vested interest at work here
3. SSIs demand assured iron ore supply by OMC
4. Provide more coal for power: CM to Lalu
5. Coal mine may be lost to build aero-complex
6. Uranium mining still a worry for residents
7. South Africa's mining sector vulnerable to financial crisis: minister
8. McArthur River mine still awaits final clearance
9. Protesters say no to mining
10. Make yourself aware of positive, negative impacts of coal mining
11. SA mines must dig deeper Jim Jones Published:Feb 11, 2009
12. Industrial Development Corp to build steel mill
13. Indonesia's Antam acquires Cibaliung gold project
14. ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel Bid for Liberian Iron Ore Project
15. Uranium romance to be rekindled?
16. Andhra pays Rs 54cr to Polavaram project-hit
17. Water scenario grave in India by 2020
18. Conservation of medicinal plants
19. Birds shifting north; global warming cited
Mining – India
11 Feb 2009, 0304 hrs IST, TNN
The mine owners of Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi have gone to the
on February 5 after seven years. Extensive mining in this period has left this stretch of the Aravalis in
There are two reasons that the mine owners are citing to seek extension of their present lease one, stopping of mining in this area would render thousands of people, mostly poor, jobless; and two, cessation of mining would deprive Haryana of royalty income.
Both reasons are flawed for the following reasons. Over 95% of the workers in these mines are migrant labour. They would move to any other site where mining is permitted as is supposed to be permitted on 600 hectares in
Secondly, the Haryana government would earn royalty from any mining in the state, irrespective of the location. So, neither workers nor the state stand to lose if mining is stopped on 267 hectares of Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi.
If the mine owners are still making every effort to extend the lease at the existing mines, it is for their own vested interest. The minutes of the January 7 meeting between Central Empowered Committee, Forest Survey of
While the meeting decided to ban all mining in the Aravali ranges of
It said the new area of 600 hectares should be auctioned after transparent guidelines and procedures are laid down. None of the individual lease would exceed 30 hectares so as to ensure healthy competition. This means there will now be 20 mining lease holders against the current monopoly of one. In short, when implemented, the new norms will kill the current mining monopoly.
It also decided that the mining lease of 30 hectares would be divided into two parts of 15 hectares each. Mining in the second part would be permitted only after the first part is reclaimed and rehabilitated at least up to 60%. In other words, the new norms would make it virtually impossible to carry out the kind of pillage that has happened in Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi.
The meeting also decided to set up an Aravali Rehabilitation Fund. The state government would give 10% of the auction money to this fund and the new lease holders would give a matching 10%. A monitoring committee, headed by the divisional commissioner, Gurgaon, would utilize the fund to heal the scars on the Aravali as has been inflicted by activities like mining in Sirohi and Khori Jamalpur.
The new norms and decisions can actually help salvage parts of the ravished mountains. At the same time, the Haryana government, which has been entrusted to locate the new 600 hectares to be opened up for mining, must do so only after putting in place every safeguard recommended by the high-powered meeting.
OMC plans Rs318cr plant |
Bishnu Dash / Kolkata/ |
The project will require an investment of about Rs 318 crore which the corporation plans to finance from internal resources.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) has been appointed as the transaction consultant for this project. The tender to engage a technical consultant for the project is now under the process. This is expected to be finalised soon, sources said. OMC is awaiting the approval of the project approval committee (PAC) headed by the chief secretary before going ahead with the project.
This is the second project to be taken up by the state owned mining company at its Daitari mines to raise the iron ore handling capacity. Daitari mine, well connected by rail and road, has the potential to augment its production from 2 million tonne per annum at present to about 6 million tonne.
While the mines owned by OMC has an estimated iron ore reserves of about 85 million tonnes, there is possibility of additional reserves of about 50 million tonne. At a production rate of 6 million tonne per annum, it can sustain for about 20 to 25 years. As a state owned company, OMC is obliged to meet the raw material (iron ore ) needs of the industries coming up in the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex (KIC), which located near Daitari.
So the company intends to execute two projects at Daitari mines to raise the production capacity. It intends to off load the present
The selected private party will take over the OHP on “as is where is” basis and will make the required capital investment to produce about 2 million tonne of iron ore per annum. More than 20 parties are reported to have evinced interest in the bid. Secondly, it plans to implement the new crushing system along with conveyance and mechanized wagon loading facility at Daitari mines to augment the production capacity further.
This project expected to be completed in about 3 years time. OMC hopes to produce 5 to 6 million tonnes of iron ore from Daitari mines by the end of 2012 which will be sufficient to meet the raw material requirement of the industries in the Kalinga Nagar area. The state owned company has submitted a proposal to the state government for raising the production of iron ore to 24 million tonne by the end 2014. Out of it, the company expects 6 million tonne iron ore from Daitari alone, sources added.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/omc-plans-rs318cr-plant/00/06/348664/
First Published : 10 Feb 2009 05:43:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 10 Feb 2009 03:09:05 PM IST
Although the iron ore processing units of Keonjhar district have been demanding assured supply of ore lumps at a reasonable rate, the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) has been ignoring the SSIs.
Though the present requirement of the local processing units is about 10-15 per cent of the total production of Gandhamardan region, the OMC allotment of 30,000 tonnes per quarter for tender participation is enough to meet only 10 per cent of the production capacity of the SSIs, said secretary of Keonjhar Industries Federation Soumya Patnaik.
If the situation continues, the local processing units which are providing maximum employment opportunities, will be forced to shut down, he cautioned.
Objecting to the iron ore pricing mechanism of OMC, Patnaik said the State-run corporation had arbitrarily jacked up the tender price of 66.5 per cent Fe grade lumps during the last two quarters from Rs 1,251 and Rs 1,011 per tonne to Rs 1,851 and Rs 1,739 per tonne respectively.
Accordingly, the price of sized iron ore for the secondary steel producers was increased from Rs 1,701 and Rs 1,804 per tonne to Rs 2,701 and Rs 2,639 per tonne during the same period.
Members of the federation today took up the issue with Minister of State for Steel and Mines Pradip Amat but the meeting remained inconclusive.
They will meet Amat after two days and if he fails to find a solution, the federation will take recourse to economic blockade from February 28, warned Patnaik.
Staff Reporter | Bhopal
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged the Ministry of Railways to improve their operational arrangements so that required quantity of coal may be supplied to Sanjay Gandhi thermal power station, Birsinghpur and Satpura thermal power stations smoothly. He has written a letter to the Minister for Railways Lalu Prasad urging him to direct the railway officers to make available more rakes for thermal power stations which are currently grappling with the crisis of coal supply shortage.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government was keeping a constant watch on improvement of arrangement for supply of coal by rakes. Chouhan regretted that the railway officers were of the view that thermal power stations take longer time to empty wagons of coal due to which transportation of rakes is disrupted. Giving the factual position, the Chief Minister informed Lalu that a wagon was emptied in four-five hours at these stations. This period is far less than the period prescribed for this purpose.
In his letter, Chouhan said that coal is supplied to Sarni Thermal Power Station through SECR from Darmi Khurd Mine of WCL, but the transportation of rakes is badly affected due to improper operation of the route. He added that coal supply to these thermal power stations was adversely affected due to lack of coordination between SECR and railways.
Chouhan informed the Railway Minister that against the demand of six to seven rakes daily, these stations were receiving only four rakes because not more than four rakes were being transported between Korba and Bilaspur and Anuppur and Katni. He said that coal companies were in a position to supply six to seven rakes of coal daily but they were not able to do so due to non-availability of rakes.
The Chief Minister informed Lalu that the 1,340 MW capacity Birsinghpur thermal power station and 1,142.5 MW capacity Sarni thermal power station have been facing shortage of coal supply over the months. At present, only one or two day coal storage is available and power generation was being affected due to shortage of coal in these power stations.
http://dailypioneer.com/155705/Provide-more-coal-for-power-CM-to-Lalu.html
Coal mine may be lost to build aero-complex
11 Feb 2009, 0000 hrs IST, Sanjay Dutta, TNN
under the jurisdiction of a ministry commanded by NCP, the UPA's powerful coalition partner.
At a time when the country is struggling to meet needs of coal-fired power plants, an aviation ministry panel has ignored coal ministry's repeated objections to an aero-complex at Andal near Durgapur in West Bengal's steel-and-mines belt that will stop plans to dig up 1,400 million tonnes of "best grade" coal for generating power and abandon two mines already functioning under the project site.
Even minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia's letter to the civil aviation ministry has not yielded any result. The Rs 10,000 crore project, also known as ‘aerotropolis’, envisages building IT park, retail, commercial and residential complexes around a new airport.
The story began on September 18 when the aviation ministry sought Coal India Ltd's opinion on the project since the chosen location is in close proximity to the Raniganj coal mines in Burdwan district. Following Coal India's objections, the issue was examined by CMPDIL, the coal ministry's consultants, which too said the coal reserves will be "lost forever" unless the project site was shifted. A report by the district administration, filed after experts from CIL, CMPDIL and state as well as central officials jointly visited the proposed site, confirmed the grounds for the objections.
Since then, the coal ministry has written several letters asking the aviation ministry to shift the project site just 15 km away on the other side of the Damodar river. But a panel of secretaries set up by the aviation ministry cleared the project without taking the coal ministry's views on record. Interestingly, no coal ministry representative was included or called for the meeting at which the clearance was granted.
The Rs 10,000 crore project is being carried out by a special purpose vehicle, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd, formed by Pragati Social Infrastructure and Development Ltd, City Star Infrastructure Ltd, Land Lease Ltd and Pragati 47 Development Ltd. The Bengal government too is a stakeholder.
Mining – International
Relative quiet has settled over a proposal to extract uranium ore from beneath the prairie east of Wellington, but that doesn't mean the matter is settled.
The company wants to use chemically treated water to dissolve the ore and pump it out for processing into fuel for nuclear power plants. The mining process is known as in-situ leaching.
If permits are issued for the company's Centennial project, construction of mining facilities could be completed by late 2011, Clement said.
Recent drops in spot prices for uranium tied to the worldwide economic recession are not likely to affect long-term contracts for uranium, he said. Reactors in the United States need a steady supply.
"There is significant interest in domestic production," he said. "We're sure the market will stay strong."
Local residents opposed to the mining operation are keeping an eye on the company and the project in hopes of keeping the mining from getting started.
With little news about the project through the end of 2008, some people believe the Centennial proposal is dead, said Jackie Adolph, outreach manager for the anti-uranium mining group Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction, or CARD.
"It's not over," she said. "We're picking up our efforts to let people know what's going on."
State officials have begun the process of drafting rules for in-situ mining as called for by state legislation passed last year.
(2 of 2)
The law requires a mining company to prove it can restore the quality of groundwater at in-situ sites to levels that are the same or better before the start of mining.
CARD members want to make sure the rules meet the letter of the law, Adolph said.
Powertech is wrapping up the process of establishing environmental background levels on the 5,700-acre Centennial site, Clement said.
The state's new law, which is known as House Bill 1161, is not likely to impede the company's operations at Centennial, Clement said.
Its standards are similar to what is already required by federal regulators, he said.
But in-situ leaching projects elsewhere in the country have wound up contaminating groundwater, said Jay Davis, a CARD member who lives near a section of the Centennial project.
Mining companies have not been able to restore groundwater to its pre-mining condition, he said.
"We are keeping a close eye on what's going on elsewhere," he said. "We think the rules enforcing 1161 will have a significant impact."
The law requires a mining company to prove it can restore the quality of groundwater at in-situ sites to levels that are the same or better before the start of mining.
CARD members want to make sure the rules meet the letter of the law, Adolph said.
Powertech is wrapping up the process of establishing environmental background levels on the 5,700-acre Centennial site, Clement said.
The state's new law, which is known as House Bill 1161, is not likely to impede the company's operations at Centennial, Clement said.
Its standards are similar to what is already required by federal regulators, he said.
But in-situ leaching projects elsewhere in the country have wound up contaminating groundwater, said Jay Davis, a CARD member who lives near a section of the Centennial project.
Mining companies have not been able to restore groundwater to its pre-mining condition, he said.
"We are keeping a close eye on what's going on elsewhere," he said. "We think the rules enforcing 1161 will have a significant impact."
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090210/NEWS01/902100321/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02
www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-11 01:45:48
JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has weathered the global financial storm so far but its mining sector is under pressure, said Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica on Tuesday "South Africa is an export led economy, the depreciation in the price of commodities, global demand that has shrunk to almost the lowest levels in a long time. The industry is suffering," said Sonjica in a speech at the mining indaba in Cape Town.
Sonjica urged mining companies to implement preliminary recommendations made by a task team in December. It recommended companies avoid retrenchments by offering alternatives such as re-assignment of idle workers, shortening the work week, cutting bonuses or even temporary lay-offs.
She also asked mining companies not to announce retrenchments before they have consulted stakeholders, including trade unions. Sonjica said that government was working to stay atop of the developing economic situation.
"The biggest challenge with this meltdown is that it is still unfolding and nobody knows for certain when it will come to an end. "The challenge therefore for governments and all of us is that we cannot conclusively quantify the impact and develop strategies to mitigate against the problem," said Sonjica. Nevertheless, she asked companies to make long-term plans.
"The impact of the global economic slowdown on the mining and minerals industry should be viewed as a short-term scenario and companies are urged to make careful plans that will allow them to respond quickly to another cycle of commodity boom," said Sonjica.
ABC News reported that only some of Xstrata’s McArthur River mine staff has taken up employment at its other operation in Queensland.
Xstrata is still waiting for approval from the Australian federal government to resume operations at its McArthur River zinc mine near Borroloola in the Northern Territory.
Mr Patrick Collins, GM of corporate affairs & community relations at Xstrata said that they still have no idea if and when it'll be able to resume mining at the McArthur River site.
He said that all of the mill workers were offered positions at the Mount Isa mine, but only 17 people have taken up the work.
He added that "Those that expressed a willingness to be redeployed were redeployed and are now working in Mount Isa in our zinc operations down there."
The federal environment ministry has decided to re approve mining and submissions regarding that announcement closed last week.
Mr Patrick Collins said that he hopes it will act as quickly as possible.
Cape Alumina are planning to develop a bauxite mine to be located adjacent to the Wenlock River, north of Weipa, and partly covering the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve.
Environmentalists protested outside the company’s Cairns office on November 13.
Di Horsburgh, Cairns Community Campaigner for The Wilderness Society Qld Inc. said, “The Wenlock is one of the last great wild rivers on Earth, with Australia’s richest diversity of freshwater fish, critical crocodile habitat, and unique river rainforest on its banks acting as a giant wildlife corridor across the Cape.
The proposed Cape Alumina mine seriously threatens the surrounding environment and the wildlife it supports.” “Removal of the bauxite for the mine poses a significant threat to health of the Wenlock River, and plans to extract millions of litres of water from the river will reduce river flows in dry times to potentially critical levels.”
“Endangered species such as the Freshwater Sawfish and Speartooth Shark will be seriously threatened by construction of a loading facility and dredging of Port Musgrave near the mouth of the Wenlock.”
“We wanted to ensure potential investors are informed of the mine’s massive environmental impact.”
http://www.cairnsnewspapers.com.au/localnews/detail.asp?aid=1122
Make yourself aware of positive, negative impacts of coal mining
February 10, 2009 by Opinions
Column by Tate White
In determining a topic for my column this week, it became exceedingly difficult to ignore the recent pieces that have appeared in the Opinions section on the subject of mining. My intentions for this environmentally themed column were to steer away from the hot topic of coal to address the multitude of other relevant issues. Participants in debates about coal mining in a coal state are typically familiar with arguments on either side and passionately aligned with one already. The issue of coal mining is complex, especially in a state whose economy is so deeply entrenched in the industry, and I have thus avoided writing about it, not wanting to oversimplify complexities. However, coal remains the white elephant in the room, hulking in the corner of every conversation involving non-renewable energy, anthropogenic climate change or environmental justice issues.
Coal mining cannot be spoken of without acknowledging the excess of the energy intensive lifestyles characteristic of America and now spreading to rapidly developing countries that have become the primary importers of coal from companies mining in the Appalachians. As Bjorn Westergard underlined in his letter on harmful coal mining methods on Feb. 2, environmental groups recognize the coal industry is (unfortunately) an established necessity and coal mining will continue for some time. Outcry against mountaintop removal is specifically in reaction to this devastating process that decimates the cultural and natural landscape as well as the health and vitality of surrounding communities. It is ironic that the very communities whose formation was stimulated and supported by the coal industry are now suffering on account of that same industry, which has become untouchable politically.
The undeniable truth is coal is money and local politicians—often national ones too—are largely funded by the profits produced by rampant and largely unregulated strip mining. For this reason, strip-mining practices often go unregulated and are virtually invisible to many established federal regulations, which scientists assert would never approve for mountaintop removal to even take place. Next Tuesday, I will travel to Frankfort, accompanied by a dozen or so more UK students to join thousands of Kentuckians to collectively demonstrate our opposition to mountaintop removal. I find it difficult not to be disturbed by, or concerned over, such heedless destruction of the physical environment on such a massive scale. Could you take a flyover over strip-mining sites in Eastern Kentucky or West Virginia or take a sip of the murky water that pours out of a nearby resident’s faucet and continue to use your electricity unrestrained on a clear conscious?
I have no outstanding personal connections to coal mining outside of being born in Kentucky. Having lived in Louisville and then Lexington only renders me incapable of truly understanding what it is like to call Eastern Kentucky and the Appalachians home or have a family member with economic ties to the coal industry. I do not, however, believe this means that I — or anyone else — should feel unobligated to educate themselves about coal mining and its repercussions, both positive and negative. My modest column, in both authority and length, is no place to even begin to chronicle these repercussions (see Westergard’s letter for a great overview of the harm of mountaintop removal practices). I would like to challenge all readers to approach this important issue from an unbiased perspective.
http://kykernel.com/2009/02/10/make-yourself-aware-of-positive-negative-impacts-of-coal-mining/
Minister urges mining companies to find ways to preserve employment
GOVERNMENT’s principal concern, expressed by Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, is job preservation.
Addressing the Mining Indaba in Cape Town yesterday, Sonjica issued a plea to the mining industry for jobs to be retained.
In exchange, she pointed to the state’s spending on transport infrastructure, expenditure that is expected to improve the ability of mines to operate.
And while she said that no deadline extensions would be granted for miners to convert old mining rights to new, the department of minerals and energy remains committed to processing exploration applications within six months and for mining rights within a year.
On the vexed issue of reliability of electricity supply, Sonjica believes that the target of 40 gW capacity needed by 2018 from today’s 30gW will be achieved with two new coal-fired power stations lifting capacity by 7gW by 2015.
A common thread running through the presentations of other speakers was the fact that mines have long lead times, need to be able to survive the price gyrations of commodity cycles and need fiscal certainty from host-country governments — certainty that extends across commodity cycles rather than short-term incentives.
That is the approach of De Beers, marketing director Stephen Lus- sier said.
It is an appropriate strategy for a product for which demand is expected to increase while world production is likely to peak over the next five years.
De Beers is cutting output but, though rough diamond prices have fallen, they are only back to the levels of early 2008.
Commodity prices? They are likely to recover over the coming year or two, Nedbank’s Mark Tyler told delegates, but only to the trend level of the past century or more — a trend that he reckoned has been declining in real terms over that period.
But other changes might be needed if the banks — the usual providers of debt finance for developing mines — continue to hold back from lending.
Tyler suggested that the richer mining groups themselves might dip into their own liquidity pools and help finance start-ups — not out of charity, but for purely commercial advantage.
Tyler did not specify which mining majors are liquid.
But Rio Tinto is selling assets to reduce debt by 10-billion (about R100-billion) this year, Jean Chawapiwa-Pama, Rio’s spokes- man, told delegates.
Much the same goes for AngloGold Ashanti, which, chief executive Mark Cutifani said, is undoing an onerous hedge book, while Gold Fields persists with its strategy of financing its new projects from its own cash flow.
It became clear from the conference deliberations that, with the exception of gold, the mining industry will continue with cut-backs and closures.
But the gold miners cannot reduce their exploration and development expenditure if they are to sustain operations.
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=936510
Bloomberg reported that South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation plans to build a USD 3 billion steel mill and may start production in 2014.
Mr Abel Malinga head of mining at IDC said that "We are looking at a reasonable size steel mill, about 3 million tonnes or 4 million tonnes a year."
He added that the plant would cost a minimum of USD 1.5 billion.
Mr Malinga said that Maputo in Mozambique and Coega in South Africa are among possible sites for the plant. He added that it is also considering a mini steel mill producing about 500,000 tonnes a year.
He said that "We would be guided by where we can find suitable iron ore and other inputs. We are looking at about 2014. That would give us sufficient time to pin down the technology and partners."
The mill would compete with ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited, which is fighting an antitrust penalty for excessive pricing.
It may be noted that South Africa's government asked IDC, which funds projects to foster economic growth, to investigate building a plant to lower steel prices and boost the country’s manufacturing industry.
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/02/11/ODIwOTc%3D/Industrial_Development_Corp_to_build_steel_mill.htmlIndonesia's Antam acquires Cibaliung gold project
Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:04am EST
JAKARTA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Indonesian state-owned miner, PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ATM.AX)(ANTM.JK), said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement to acquire a gold mine in West Java but did not disclose the cost.
Bimo Satryo, Antam's corporate secretary, said in a statement that Antam has signed a Heads of Agreement with ANZ Bank and Australian firm Arc Exploration Limited (ARX.AX) to arrange for the transfer of ownership of PT Cibaliung Sumber Daya, which operates Cibaliung gold project in Banten province.
PT Cibaliung Sumber Daya was 95-percent owned by Australian firm Arc, while Antam owned the remaining 5 percent.
"Antam acquired Cibaliung in order to continue the gold project after it incurred a cost over-run and PT CSD experienced funding difficulty to continue mining activities and service its obligation," Satryo said.
The Cibaliung gold project has a mine life of six years with annual ore production of 220,000 tonnes and production of gold equivalent of around 2.2 tonnes. It has estimated gold reserves of around 12.8 tonnes, or 412,000 ounces.
The completion of the transaction is conditional on various approvals, including from Arc Exploration's shareholders meeting in late March, but Antam expects to complete the transaction within within four to six months, Satryo said.
Antam, 65 percent-owned by the Indonesian government, is involved in exploration and production of nickel ore, smelting of ferronickel, production and refining of gold, silver, bauxite, and iron sands. (Reporting by Fitri Wulandari, editing by Sara Webb)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSJAK42070420090210
By Paul Richardson
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel Ltd. are among companies that have submitted bids to develop Liberia’s $1.6 billion Western Cluster iron ore project, deputy Mines Minister E.C.B. Jones said.
The bidding process, which attracted several other unspecified bids, will be completed by June, Jones said in an interview today in Cape Town at the Mining Indaba conference. The project is being reoffered for tender after the original process was canceled.
“We’ve had a number of prospective bidders, including some that bid before,” Jones said.
The Western Cluster project consists of two mines that closed in 1976 and 1985 because of civil war, and three other deposits. In September, Liberia canceled Delta Mining Consolidated Ltd.’s contract and barred the company and Tata from participating in a new tender, saying the initial bid may have been compromised by “external influence or impropriety.” Tata said at the time it wasn’t involved in any such action.
On Nov. 24, Delta and Tata were cleared to participate in the new tender. A month later, Delta said it was suing the Liberian government over the original cancellation and applied to halt the process. Lizane van Rooyen, a legal representative for Delta, said today she couldn’t immediately comment on the retendering.
Government Optimism
“We’re quite optimistic that the legal action will be resolved,” Jones said. The retendering process will be completed by about March 23 and the government’s evaluation of bids should take about two months, he said.
Calls to Giles Read, a spokesman for ArcelorMittal based in London, weren’t immediately returned. Bob Jones, a spokesman for Tata Steel in London, wasn’t able to immediately comment on the bidding.
Talks with BHP Billiton Ltd. over the Kitoma and Go Fantro deposits will start “very shortly,” and discussions with Mano River Resources Inc. and Silverstar over the Kutu mines will start in April, Jones said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=a4f6K7lZrR2k&refer=africa
Uranium romance to be rekindled?
Tue, Feb 10, 2009
Uranium Investing News
Although investment activity in the commodities and energy sectors has cooled over the last six months, there are several reasons why the fundamentals in the uranium market remain strong. ”We expect the uranium market to remain fairly robust over the next few years, and to support a price of roughly US$60/lb,” said Desjardins Securities analyst John Redstone.
One of the fears circulating in the market is that the current global credit freeze will lead to a halt in nuclear reactor construction. Redstone points out that several of the ongoing nuclear programs responsible for ramping up reactor capacity are backed by government finance and less affected by the crisis, including those programs in China, India and Russia. Programs in Japan and South Korea, he said, are “conservatively funded and should be able to proceed.”
Other worries involve concerns over the U.S. Department of Energy’s possible plans to sell off excess uranium flooding the market and rumours of rising production in Kazakhstan. Redstone, however, argues that market fundamentals will not be disturbed as adjustments will likely be made.
The spot market price of uranium took a dive like most commodities after recession fears began to grow and hedge funds began selling off their holdings to cover losses. But, analysts forecast investor interest will soon return as the world looks towards alternative energy sources. “Uranium prices could recover faster if the investor segment rekindles its interest,” said Gene Clark, Trade Tech Chief Executive Officer.
In the face of a growing fossil-fuel pollution problem, China is taking a second look at its means of energy production and is already working towards nearly doubling its nuclear generating capacity. Currently, the nation has 11 civilian nuclear reactors in operation, which supply over 1 per cent of its energy needs. A few years ago, the government was aiming to increase nuclear generating capacity to 40 GWe by 2020. But now, the National Energy Administration has revised China’s nuclear capacity need to 70 GWe by 2020. At the moment, seven nuclear plants are under construction and there are plans to build another eight over the next three years.
Despite the setbacks caused by the global economic crisis, many believe uranium mining will remain lucrative. According to Steve Kidd, Director of Strategy & Research at the World Nuclear Association, “Market fundamentals have remained essentially unchanged. Mining finance is clearly now a lot tighter, but the demand prospects and declining secondary supply situation in uranium remain, making it one of the more attractive sectors to invest in.”
Hats off to Hathor
Hathor Exploration Ltd. [TSX.V.:HAT], a Canadian explorer with properties in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin, received glowing accolades from respected geologist and editor of Exploration Insights newsletter, Brent Cook during an interview with The Gold Report. “Last year, they pulled some incredible drill holes at this little project called the Roughrider Zone,” said Cook. “So I am following that, have been for a while, and I am favorably disposed towards it, although the stock has come up in price.”
According to Cook, the company currently has four drill rigs on the property “drilling off, infilling drilling, and drilling some extensions and geophysical anomalies. If they hit the geophysical anomalies, this is very significant.” It is significant because two miners with uranium mills, AREVA and Cameco Corp., are in the area and they are both “desperate for ore.” Cook is confident Hathor has “some sort of deposit there.”
On Tuesday, shares of Hathor were trading at $ 2.57, down from a 52-week high of $4.40.
Other uranium miners in the news
Last Wednesday, Pancontinental Uranium Corporation [TSX.V: PUC] informed its shareholders about the exploration progress that its joint venture partner Crossland Uranium Mines Ltd. [ ASX: CUX] has made on the March Fly Prospect located on its Chilling Project in Australia’s North Territory.
Diamond core drill work has been completed along previously discovered high grade uranium intersections. The mineralization extends from surface down over 100m within a radioactivity anomaly about 700m long. Seven core holes (1203.7m) were drilled along this anomaly, from which 275 samples of half core were submitted for chemical analysis in December. The results have been received, but are now being evaluated in terms of the previous intersections and surface geology. Some of Pancon’s plans for 2009 include examining newly discovered unconformity-related deposits beneath the sandstone cover rocks. On Tuesday, shares of Pancon were trading at .09 cents, down from a 52-week high of .55 cents.
Last week, Ucore Uranium Inc. [TSX.V: UCU] announced it had discovered “light and heavy rare earth metals at a remote high priority target” southeast of its Bokan Mountain property in Alaska. The Geoduck Zone, through the use of recent assays, can now be confirmed as a structural extension of previously explored mineralization.
Ucore reports that Hole LM08-46, which was drilled at a -45 degree angle to a total depth of 59.74m, showed significant mineralization over a 1.2m intercept between the depths of 18.62 to 19.82m. “These results reinforce Bokan’s potential as a prospective multi-metals deposit,” said Jim McKenzie, President & CEO of Ucore.
On Tuesday, shares of Ucore were trading at .06 cents, down from a 52-week high of .63 cents.
http://www.uraniuminvestingnews.com/1346/uranium-romance-to-be-rekindled.html
Other News – India
Andhra pays Rs 54cr to Polavaram project-hit |
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| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad February 11, 2009, 0:23 IST |
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The Andhra Pradesh government has paid Rs 54.34 crore compensation towards rehabilitation to persons affected under the Indira Sagar Polavaram project, according to state major and medium irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah.
“A total of 1,32,288 people belonging to 42,714 families have been notified for displacement for the construction of the Polavaram project in Khammam, East and West Godavari districts. However, only 277 persons who are actually displaced, had been rehabilitated,” the minister said in a written reply to a question by Chada Venkat Reddy (CPI) in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Major industries, sugar and commerce and export promotion minister J Geeta Reddy —in response to a different question by T Harish Rao (TRS) on whether the government had announced any special packages recently for closed sugar factories — said the factories had not closed but crushing operations could not be taken up due to shortage of cane.
“Of the 11 cooperative sugar factories, which have been working, only eight have taken up crushing operations for the 2008-09 season. Crushing could not be taken up in three co-op sugar factories including the one at Nizamabad in the Telangana area, due to shortage of cane by more than 80 per cent. Steps are being taken to increase the cane area by the next crushing season,” Reddy said.
She said crushing operations at the Nizamabad factory (shortage of cane by 81.5 per cent) would be taken up during the next season (2009-10) subject to the availability of minimum cane in the factory area.
“Employees on permanent rolls at the Nizamabad factory are being paid salaries regularly. Seasonal employees will be paid full salaries during the running season and retaining allowance during the off-season as per the rules,” she said.
http://business-standard.com/india/news/andhra-pays-rs-54cr-to-polavaram-project-hit/10/00/348617/
Water scenario grave in India by 2020
Coimbatore (PTI): India is expected to experience severe water stress by 2020 with the per capita availability of water projected to be less than 1,000 cubic metres.
Indian water scenario was a matter of grave concern, as 85 per cent of water was used for agriculture, 10 per cent for industry and five per cent for domestic use, according to a paper presented at a national symposium here.
Being a developing nation with a large population on the negative side of the poverty line, economic water scarcity (limited access to fresh water due to lower affordability) assumed equal, if not, greater importance as that of physical water scarcity, it said.
Quoting a world Bank study, it said of the 27 Asian cities with population of over 10 lakh, Chennai and Delhi were ranked as the worst performing metropolitan cities in terms of water availability per day, while Mumbai was ranked as second worst performer and Calcutta fourth.
Severe water shortage had already led to a growing number of conflicts across the country, with 90 per cent of India's territory served by inter-state rivers.
The row over river Cauvery between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Godavari between Maharashtra and Karnataka, Narmada between Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are some of the confilcts, the paper said.
The conflicts are being bitterly fought at all levels, imposing very high economic environmental costs. Climate change projections showed India's water problems were only likely to worsen and with more rain expected to fall in fewer days and the rapid melting of glaciers, especially in the Western Himalayas, India would need to gear up to tackle increasing incidence of droughts and floods, the paper said.
Global fresh water supplies were continuously stressed by rising demands from growing population and its ever increasing needs for hygiene, sanitation, food and industrial needs.
While the world's population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold and within next 50 years, the world population would increase by another 40 to 50 per cent, it claimed.
On water facts, the paper said that a billion people in the world do not have access to safe water, which was roughly one sixth of the world's population.
About 1.8 million people died every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation, which amounted to around 5,000 deaths a day.
The simple act of washing hands with soap and water can reduce diarrhoeal cases by over 40 per cent, since water-related disease was the second biggest killer of children worldwide, after acute respiratory infections like Tuberculosis, it said.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200902101151.htm
Feb 10th, 2009 at 6:45 pm | By NVO Bureau | Category: Featured, agriculture
Medicinal plants have always been considered a healthy source of life for the people. Therapeutical properties of medicinal plants are very useful in healing various diseases.
There are more than 8000 medicinal plants listed in different classical and modern texts on medicinal plants. Around 960 medicinal plants are in active use in all India trade and around 2000 species are documented in Indian Systems of Medicine like Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. Similarly, around 4000 species are used by rural communities in local health practices. The All India Ethno-biology Survey estimated that over 7,500 plant species are used by 4,635 ethnic communities for human and veterinary health care across the country. In 1993, the Government estimated that between 60-80% of India’s population rely on medicinal plants for health care. Medicinal plants are particularly important to the rural poor, who are able to harvest these from the wild to meet their primary health care needs. The Botanical Survey states some of the common medicinal herbs as Brahmi, Babul gum, Bail, Satawar, Neem, Tesu/Gul Palash, Dalchini, Bhringraj, Amla, Jatropha, Nagkesar, Jaiphal, Ratanjot, Isabgo, Reetha, Kuth (Bitter), Chiraita, Jamun, Arjun, Behera, Harad (Choti), Harad (Pili) etc
Nodal Agency on Medicinal Plants
The National Medicinal Plants Board is the designated nodal agency on all issues related to medicinal plants. It works under the Department of AYUSH, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare. Besides number of organizations and departments, Viz., ICMR, CIMAP, DBT, DST, NBPGR, and Ministry of Commerce are also engaged in handling the subject of medicinal plants but each one has a specific mandate. While it is research for the first three organisations, it is ex-situ conservation for NBPGR, and marketing for the Ministry of Commerce. Similarly, research on cultivation of medicinal plants, especially pertaining to standardization of agro-technology & breeding techniques is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Genetic Conservation of Medicinal Plants
The Department of Biotechnology has already set up three national gene banks on medicinal and aromatic plants at the Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi and Tropical Botanic Garden & Research Institute (TBGRI), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. They are engaged in collection, conservation and characterization of the precious wealth of medicinal and aromatic herbs which are rare/threatened/endangered or are being used in traditional system, or those which are commercially exploited. The Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, is the forth gene bank which covers the North-Western Himalayan region. A germ-plasma repository for medicinal plants used in Ayurveda has also been established at Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal, Kerala. More than 9,000 accessions of important medicinal and aromatic plant species are being maintained as live material in field gene banks, in the form of seed, in vitro material and DNA. For long-term conservation, the accessions are stored under cryogenic conditions.
Thrust on National Afforestation Programme
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has taken various measures for conservation and proliferation of rare medicinal herbs. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Project entitled ‘National Programme on Promoting Conservation of Medicinal Plants & Traditional Knowledge for Enhancing Health & Livelihood Security’ is in operation. It is being implemented in nine States-Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. The project is being coordinated by Foundation for Revitalizing of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) **, Banglore. These states are of two categories - one, with five States (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu) wherein medicinal plants conservation activities have been initiated and the second, with remaining four States in which the conservation activities are to be initiated under this project for the first time.
The main aims are to establish a system for Rapid threat assessment and trade regulation; establish a Network of Medicinal Plants Conservation Areas (MPCAs); establish a state level medicinal plants seed center; establish Home Herbal Gardens (HHGs) and prepare Community Knowledge Registers (CKKs); capacity building on community owned medicinal plants enterprises programmes; communication and advocacy programmes for outreach and a multi-lingual website programme on Home Doctor.
Another UNDP-GEP project, “Mainstreaming Conservation and Sustainable use of Medicinal Plant Diversity” covers three Indian States - Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. The National Medicinal Plant Board, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), State Medicinal Plant Boards and FRLHT, Banglore are executing partners in this project. The main objective of the project is to mainstream the conservation and sustainable use of medicinal plants with particular reference to globally significant medicinal plants.
A Centre of Excellence on ‘Medicinal Plants & Traditional Knowledge’ at FRLHT, Banglore also supports this activity which is recognized .
Implementation of the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) Scheme include models such as ‘Mixed Plantation of Trees having Minor Forest Produce and Medicinal Value’ and Regeneration of Perennial Herbs and Shrubs of Medicinal Value’ that relate to promotion of medicinal plants through afforestation and regeneration. The States have been advised to give requisite thrust on plantation of medicinal plants and bamboos on degraded forest lands and contiguous areas in addition to other species of local ecological and economic importance in the afforestation activities. This is intended to contribute towards poverty alleviation and also to ensure livelihood security of forest fringe dwellers besides ameliorating soil conditions and improving/increasing forest cover. The States have been also advised to consider setting aside 10% of the project area for plantation of bamboos and medicinal plants under the NAP.
Conserving and protecting medicinal plants is being carried out through enforcement of the Indian Forests Act, 1927; Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the rules under these Acts.
Biological Diversity Act, 2002
The Government has enacted the Biological Diversity Act in 2002 and notified the Biological Diversity Rules in 2004, with the aim of conserving and sustainably using biological diversity, and regulating the biological resources (including the medicinal plants) and associated traditional knowledge of country with the purpose of securing equitable sharing of benefits arising out of these resources and associated knowledge.
Harvest of Medicinal Plants
Over Ninety-five percent of India’s medicinal plants are harvested from the wild. Over 200 medicinal plant species in southern and northern India are classified as rare, endangered or threatened. The true number of threatened species are, including globally significant species, is likely to be far higher, but the status of many species is insufficiently unknown.
Banned for Export
About 29 species of medicinal plants have so far been identified and notified by Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, New Delhi. Export of these 29 plants, plant portions and their derivatives and extracts as such obtained from the wild except the formulations made there from is prohibited as these species required protection against over-exploitation.
http://nvonews.com/2009/02/10/conservation-of-medicinal-plants/
Birds shifting north; global warming cited
10 Feb 2009, 1558 hrs IST, AFP
WASHINGTON: As the temperature across the US has gotten warmer, the purple finch has been spending its winters more than 400 miles (640
kilometers) farther north than it used to. And it is not alone.
An Audubon Society study set for release on Tuesday found that more than half of 305 birds species in North America, a hodgepodge of species that includes robins, gulls, chickadees and owls, are spending the winter about 35 miles (56 kilometers) farther north than they did 40 years ago.
The purple finch was the biggest northward mover. Its wintering grounds are now more along the latitude the upper Midwest instead of the Midwest.
Bird ranges can expand and shift for many reasons, among them urban sprawl, deforestation and the supplemental diet provided by backyard feeders. But researchers say the only explanation for why so many birds over such a broad area are wintering in more northern locales is global warming.
Over the 40 years covered by the study, the average January temperature in the United States climbed by nearly 5 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius). That warming was most pronounced in northern states, which have already recorded an influx of more southern species and could see some northern species retreat into Canada as ranges shift.
"This is as close as science at this scale gets to proof," said Greg Butcher, the lead scientist on the study and the director of bird conservation at the Audubon Society. "It is not what each of these individual birds did. It is the wide diversity of birds that suggests it has something to do with temperature, rather than ecology."
The study provides compelling evidence for what many birders across the country have long recognized, that many birds are responding to climate change by shifting farther north.
Previous studies of breeding birds in Britain and the eastern US have detected similar trends. But the Audubon study covers a broader area and includes many more species.
The study of migration habits from 1966 through 2005 found about one-fourth of the species have moved farther south. But the number moving northward, 177 species, is twice that.
The study "shows a very, very large fraction of the wintering birds are shifting" northward, said Terry Root, a biologist at Stanford University. "We don't know for a fact that it is warming. But when one keeps finding the same thing over and over ... we know it is not just a figment of our imagination."
The research is based on data collected during the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count in early winter. At that time of year, temperature is the primary driver for where birds go and whether they live or die. To survive the cold, birds need to eat enough during the day to have the energy needed to shiver throughout the night.
Milder winters mean the birds don't need to expend as much energy shivering, and can get by eating less food in the day.
General biology aside, the research can't explain why particular species are moving. That is because changes in temperature affect different birds in different ways.
Other species, such as the purple finch and boreal chickadee, spend their summers in the forests of Canada and fly south into the U.S. for the winter. Climate change could be playing a role in why they are not flying as far south as they used to, and are no longer as common as they were in northern states like Maine, Vermont and Wisconsin.
For other species, global warming may not be a major factor in the movements measured by Audubon at all. The wild turkey was second only to the purple finch in miles(kilomters) moved north, about 400(640). But it is likely due to efforts by hunters and state wildlife managers to boost its population.
In other cases, the range shifts are prompting calls to cull some bird populations.
The sandhill crane, a large gray bird that migrates to the southern US for the winter, has a range that expanded about 40 miles north in the last 40 years. This small movement has likely contributed to the bird's population explosion in the southern state of Tennessee. The sandhill population has grown to a point that state wildlife officials are considering allowing the bird to be hunted.
"You are seeing it all across the state," said Richard Connors, president of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. "As it increases, there is going to be pressure to hunt it. The bird watchers of Tennessee don't want that."http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health__Science/Earth/Global_Warming/Birds_shifting_north_global_warming_cited/articleshow/4106089.cms
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