15-07-09

Mining – India 1
1. Orissa focus on non-ferrous metals exploration 1
2. MPDI signs an MoU with the Survey of India 3
3. Jindal Steel sets up office in Mongolia for mining activities 3
4. Steel minister's 124 mt target for 2012 unreal? 4
5. ArcelorMittal's Rs 40,000-cr project put on hold for 2 yrs 5
6. Vedanta plans to invest $2 bn in assets: Agarwal 6
7. Opposition meets Orissa Governor, Demands CBI probe into mining scam 6
Mining – International 7
8. Garrett gives nod to uranium mine 7
9. Interior secretary: Mining reform a top priority 9
10. REFILE-China small coal mines back in action, but cautiously 10
11. Former mine workers union chief Church dies at 72 12
12. Aboriginal people 'not heard' over mine 12
13. Indigenous benefits 13
14. Vedanta's India bauxite mining to begin by October 13
15. Four Mile objections 'short-sighted' 14
16. Criticism 'expected' 14
Other News 15
17. Govt readies selloff list 15
18. Government to map low-carbon road 16
19. SHRC raids police station, 'frees' women, children 19
20. Indian tiger park 'has no tigers' 19


Mining – India

Orissa focus on non-ferrous metals exploration

Bishnu Dash / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar July 15, 2009, 0:40 IST

With a view to meet the future raw material requirement of the industries using non-ferrous metals, the Orissa government has decided to intensify exploration of bauxite, coal, limestone and heavy minerals in beach sand.

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Since most part of the surface exposed deposits has been explored earlier, the new initiative will focus on intensive exploitation of concealed deposits. The geo-physical and geo-thermal survey will be used for this purpose, official sources said.
The issue of intensifying exploration to ensure raw-material security for the upcoming industries in the state figured in the state geological programming board meeting held recently.
It was decided that the directorate of geology under the Orissa government will take up new projects for exploration while carrying on with the projects started during the last fiscal.
The new areas where intensive exploration will be taken up include investigation of bauxite around Bhitargurha of Kalahandi district and Panchada-Baldiaparha of Koraput district, assessment of heavy minerals in beach sand in Giral south block around Puri coast and investigation of coal in IB Valley and Talcher coalfields.
Continuing with the earlier focus on the ferrous metals,, the assessment of iron ore in the northern part of Baliapal, Badamgarh Pahar and Jhirapani in Sundergarh district and around Tapodih in Keonjhar district is proposed to be taken up during this field season.
Besides, investigation of iron and manganese ore in Joda-Banspani sector in Keonjhar district and around Deoghar in Sundergarh district will also be taken up during this year.
Integrated geo-physical survey conducted to locate primary source of diamond around Kalmidadar in Nuapada district and the search for dimension stone and HMI rocks in Remuli-Champua-Phagu area of Keonjhar district.
The directorate of geology plans to take up 19 investigation projects this year compared to 17 projects last year. It has already deployed three exploration units for starting investigation of bauxite in small and medium plateaus in Kalahandi, Koraput and Raygada districts.
Similarly, two exploration units have been deployed for investigation of coal in IB valley and Talcher coal-fields and three exploration units for investigation of heavy minerals in beach sand.
“We expect aluminium industry to grow further in next 5 years and now the focus is on exploration of smaller patches of bauxite which can meet the requirement of the small and medium size industries”, a senior official associated with the process told Business Standard.
Meanwhile, the initiative for exploration of diamond from primary sources at Kalmidadar, Kathiwada areas (Sinapali block) in Nuapara district and assessment of coal in Ananta, Lingaraj, Bhubaneswari block in Talcher coalfield, started last year, will continue. Exploration for coal in Madhupur block of IB valley coal-field and assessment of heavy minerals in beach sand along Puri coast in Nabha (north east sector) and to the north-east of Chilika will also continue. The investigation of manganese and iron ore around Bamaniajore of Keonjhar district and investigation of bauxite plateaus in Dasmantapur block of Koraput district has already taken off, sources added.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/orissa-focusnon-ferrous-metals-exploration/363936/

MPDI signs an MoU with the Survey of India
14 Jul 2009, 2117 hrs IST, ET Bureau

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The Cental Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), an arm of the Coal India Limited, on Tuesday signed an MoU with the Survey of India for

preparation of the large scale updated topographical maps of 28 major coalfields of the country, based on remote sensing technique.

The project, for which the Coal India Limited has funded Rs 117 crore, will be jointly implemented by CMPDI & Survey of India and completed in five years. This is said to be a major task for the CMPDI to expedite coal exploration, mine planning, environmental management and infrastructure development in the coalfields area to match the coal-based energy demand of the country.

CMPDI CMD A.K. Singh said topographical maps will be prepared for about 26,000 sq km area on 1:5000 scale with 2 m contour interval in digital GIS formats. Large scale digital topographical maps will be useful for detail coal exploration, mine planning, infrastructure planning, railway siding for coal transpotation, rehabilitation and resettlement and environmental management planning as well as intergrated master planning of the coalfields.

The MoU was signed in presence of Mr A.K. Singh, CMD, CMPDI and major general C.S. Bewli, additional surveyor general (eastern zone). The CMPDI, it is to be noted, was recently awarded the 'mini ratna' status.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Indl-Goods-Svs/Metals-Mining/MPDI-signs-an-MoU-with-the-Survey-of-India/articleshow/4777331.cms

Jindal Steel sets up office in Mongolia for mining activities

Press Trust of India / Mumbai July 14, 2009, 18:21 IST

Steel manufacturing companies, Jindal Steel and Mesco Steel, have shown a keen interest in mining activities in Mongolia, a top Mongolian government official said today.
"Several Indian companies, namely Jindal Steel and Mesco Steel, have showed a keen interest in mining projects in Mongolia," its Ambassador Voroshilov Enkhbold told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
Jindal Steel has already set up its office in Mongolia, Enkhbold said.
Mongolia is one of the 10 richest countries having coking coal and iron ore reserves. The Mongolian government has recently drafted and finalised its mining policy, he said.
In recent fast, overall economic growth in India and liberalisation of the Mongolian economy create a favourable environment for strengthening bilateral trade and other economic links, he said.
Mongolia's bilateral trade with India is expected to double to $32 million in the current year, Enkhbold said, adding that the steel mining projects may increase the trade to $100 million in the next 2-3 years.
The Mongolian economy is based on a stronger performance in the mining and quarrying, agriculture, hunting and forestry, retail trade, transport, storage and communications sectors, he said.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/jindal-steel-setsoffice-in-mongolia-for-mining-activities/67689/on

Steel minister's 124 mt target for 2012 unreal?
Shubhashish / DNA
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:44 IST
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Mumbai: Virbhadra Singh, the Union steel minister, said India would almost double its steel production to 124 million tonnes (mt) by 2012.
However, a more-or-less flat demand last year and a small 6-8% increase in demand this year make the goal a rather ambitious one, say industry experts.
The minister has planned a 100-day agenda for the steel ministry, under which one of the priorities is to accelerate the pace of capacity addition in the country, both in public and private sectors.
The agenda says, "We will make all efforts to see that the 124 mt steel capacity, projected by the year 2011-12, is realised by way of policy facilitation and vigorous coordination efforts with the state governments and central ministries concerned." It adds that a priority will be expediting greenfield and brownfield capacity expansions, already in various stages of implementation.
However, a working group on steel for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan said demand is expected to be 66-70 mt in 2011-12. A survey done by Assocham in May last year found that the industry, in January-March 2008, announced plans to increase capacity to about 85 mt from 54 mt then.
An analyst with a domestic research firm said, "The announcements had come when steel was a growth story. Now, it is getting back on its feet after the massive slowdown. Many steelmakers have deferred expansion plans and reaching 124 mt in 2012 seems a distant dream."
Another analyst from a domestic brokerage said setting up this kind of capacity in two years is almost impossible. "There are a lot of issues regarding land acquisition and iron ore mine allocations. Moreover, apart from JSW Steel and Tata Steel, no other steelmaker is sticking to its timeline to complete the projects," he said. The analyst said it takes a minimum of 2-3 years to set up a 3 mt steel plant if land and mines are already allotted.
Sanjay Jain, an analyst with Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said, "The remark has no correlation with reality. We are expecting a growth of 5-7% in demand over the next 2-3 years. Going by that, we won't reach 125 mt by 2012." Production in FY08 was 55 mt and in FY09 65 mt.
Among steelmakers who are expanding are Steel Authority of India and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, who are looking to boost their annual capacity to 26 mt and 6 mt, respectively, by 2012.
NMDC is also setting up a 3 mt steel unit in Chhattisgarh, at an investment of Rs 16,000 crore. It already has 995 acres for the plant and hopes to begin work on the project this fiscal.
Among private steelmakers, JSW Steel and Tata Steel have both completed their 6.8 mt expansion and are expanding to 10 mt.
While Tata Steel is expected to complete the project by 2010, JSW will do so by 2012. After the expansion, JSW Steel, which has a 1 mt facility in Salem, will reach a capacity of 11 mt.
The World Steel Association predicts that worldwide steel use will decline by 14.9% to 1,018.6 mt in 2009 after falling 1.4% (1,197 mt) in 2008. However, demand is expected to stabilise in the second half of 2009, leading to a mild recovery in 2010.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_steel-minister-s-124-mt-target-for-2012-unreal_1274084

ArcelorMittal's Rs 40,000-cr project put on hold for 2 yrs

Nevin John & Pb Jayakumar / Mumbai July 15, 2009, 0:17 IST

Reason: Global demand for steel stagnating.
The world’s largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal, has put on hold its proposed Rs 40,000-crore steel plant in Orissa’s Keonjhar district for at least two years, as the global demand for steel is stagnating.
However, the company will go ahead with its plans in Jharkhand, and has secured iron ore mines and coal linkages to the project, company sources told Business Standard.
An e-mail reply from the steel major said it was not expecting its projects in India to start before 2014.
“We have paused our growth projects at present for obvious reasons. The projects in India are greenfield ones that have considerable lead time, as they involve land acquisition, environmental concerns, etc. But we remain committed to our investment in India,” said the e-mailed reply.
The London-based company was planning to start construction of the Orissa and Jharkand projects —the company’s only new steel plants globally, each with a proposed yearly capacity of 12 million tonnes — by the end of this year, with a commissioning deadline of 2014.
The projects were announced in 2005-end, a time when global economy was sound and demand for steel was bright.
A source said apart from the dwindling demand for steel, land acquisition has been a major hindrance for progress of the project in Orissa. The project requires about 8,000 acres in the tribal Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district.
Tribals, with the support of activists, were opposing the project. The steel major also faced tribal opposition for its Jharkhand project.
Sources said the Orissa government could mobilise only about 1,500 acres and the company had also delayed payment for the acquired land, giving an indication to the state government that it was going slow on the project. The company finalised the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Orissa project only by the end of 2008.
Sources said the delay in projects would cause capital escalation by about 50 per cent. The company will have to spend an additional $9 billion for completion of the projects, due to the delay, a Credit Suisse report had estimated.
South Korean steel maker Posco’s $11.6 billion Orissa project is also facing regulatory hurdles, along with issues of land acquisition. Tata Steel’s new projects in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh have been delayed by two to three years due to land acquisition problems and other issues.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/arcelormittal\s-rs-40000-cr-project-puthold-for-2-yrs/363965/

Vedanta plans to invest $2 bn in assets: Agarwal

Anil Agarwal, chairman, Vedanta Resources Plc. talks about his outlook on commodities and his strategy for mergers and acquisitions

Menaka Doshi / CNBC-TV18

Mumbai: India-focused mining firm Vedanta Resources Plc. hopes to buy the government’s residual stake in Bharat Aluminium Co. Ltd (Balco) and Hindustan Zinc Ltd by the end of the year, according to Anil Agarwal, chairman of the London-listed firm. In an interview, Agarwal talks about his outlook on commodities and his strategy for mergers and acquisitions. Edited excerpts:
Raising stake: Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal says the firm is gearing up to buy the government’s shares in Balco and Hindustan Zinc. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint
What is your take on global demand right now and how do you think prices will fare over the year?
The prices have come off 50% or more because the demand has gone down. The market is flat at this point in time, but the mining and natural resource assets are scarce...and the way China, India and some of the underdeveloped countries like Africa are coming up, a lot will be needed to build. So I am very hopeful that things will change. I feel that (in) another year to a year-and-a-half, this will be the situation and then market will definitely recover.
The government still has residual stakes in Balco and Hindustan Zinc. By when do you hope to buy that and what is the outgo likely to be for the group?
We are gearing up for this and we know that we have to buy this residual share. We believe within this year we will move forward and I am just estimating, it should be around Rs7,000-8,000 crore.
You hope this transaction will be completed by the end of the year?
Yes, or before that. This is a simple transaction. We have to be ready with the money. So we are gearing up and we are getting ready to move forward in that direction.
Sesa Goa Ltd, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, acquired Dempo group’s mines and mining rights. What other acquisitions are you looking at and in what geographies? What is the kind of war chest that you are putting aside to be able to carry out these acquisitions?
We are looking at copper and iron ore assets. Those two are on the radar and we are looking at the region of Africa and Central America. We looked at some parts of Eastern Europe also, but we are getting close to Africa and Central America, and we are thinking on the upper side of $2 billion (around Rs9,760 crore) to invest to buy these assets.
cnbctv18@livemint.com

http://www.livemint.com/2009/07/14230405/Vedanta-plans-to-invest-2-bn.html?h=B


Opposition meets Orissa Governor, Demands CBI probe into mining scam
14 Jul 2009, 2013 hrs IST, Nageshwar Patnaik , ET Bureau

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BHUBANESWAR: The opposition Congress and BJP on Wednesday met the Orissa governor M.C. Bhandare and urged him to recommend for a CBI probe into

the alleged Rs 4,500-crore mining scam.

Separate delegations led by Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh and BJP legislature party leader K.V. Singh Deo met the governor in the morning and submitted memoranda detailing how the precious iron ore and manganese mines at Katasahi in Keonjhar district were handed over to private firm – Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited - without following due procedure.

“Data and evidence through documents suggest that Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited (RBTL) has gone into liquidation on July 31, 2008 and the official liquidator, which is the Patna High Court, have been appointed as the liquidator thereof. The company has not filed its income tax since a decade. Neverthless, the company is continuing to mislead the general public and other statutory authorities by concealing the fact of its having ordered to be liquidated,” the BJP memorandum said.

It added that RBTL was seeking to fraudulently obtain a mining lease by concealing the fact of it having gone into liquidation.

The Congress claimed that chief minister Naveen Patnaik had breached the privilege by announcing a vigilance inquiry outside the Assembly while the session is very much on.

“When the session of the House is very much on and the Opposition is demanding a CBI probe, the chief minister - without taking the members into confidence - declared vigilance inquiry outside into the mining scam. This is sheer disregard to the democratic norms,” the Congress said in its memorandum.

Inside the Assembly, pandemonium continued to prevail for the third consecutive day as the members insisted on the CBI probe, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House twice. Speaker Pradip Amat’s effort to bring order in the House failed as the all-party meeting convened by him could not reach any consensus on the mode of inquiry.

Meanwhile, under mounting pressure from the Opposition the state government on Tuesday withdrew the security cover given to the RTBL.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Opposition-meets-Orissa-Governor-Demands-CBI-probe-into-mining-scam/articleshow/4777212.cms
Mining – International

Garrett gives nod to uranium mine

Michelle Grattan and Barry Fitzgerald
July 15, 2009
The Rudd Government has given the green light to an expansion of the uranium industry, approving a new mine in South Australia that will add hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the industry's exports.
The Four Mile mine, 550 kilometres north of Adelaide, will open next year after winning clearance from federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett.
Mr Garrett, the former anti-uranium activist who once stood for the Nuclear Disarmament Party, said he did not take the decision lightly.
But he said that he was "certain this operation poses no credible risk to the environment" after it was subjected to a "rigorous and comprehensive assessment".
Four Mile will be Australia's first new uranium mine in close to a decade and the 10th biggest in the world. Its approval was made possible by Labor dumping its no-new-mines policy before the 2007 election.
With annual production of about 1400 tonnes, it will boost national output by 13 per cent to 12,100 tonnes and would earn about $260 million a year in revenue at current prices.
Mr Garrett said Four Mile had been subject to two independent reviews — both concluding it could go ahead without any significant lasting impact on the environment and that the proposal was world's best practice in uranium mining.
He said stringent safeguards would include rigorous monitoring, which would remain well after the mine closed.
Four Mile is 75 per cent owned by US company Heathgate and 25 per cent by Ian Gandel's locally-listed Alliance Resources. Other local mines are Rio Tinto's Ranger in the Northern Territory and Olympic Dam (BHP Billiton) and Beverley in SA. The development of Four Mile is expected to be followed by the smaller Honeymoon mine in SA, possibly later in 2010.
But the big uranium developments that could triple Australia's annual uranium exports to 30,000 tonnes are much further off. BHP plans to triple output at Olympic Dam — the world's biggest deposit — and is investigating developing the Yeelerrie deposit in Western Australia. Canada's Cameco and Japan's Mitsubishi also want to develop the WA Kintyre deposit.
While Labor has dropped its no-new-mines policy, it will still only allow uranium exports to countries that have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That rules out sales to India but allows them to China. Labor also will not countenance nuclear power in Australia.
Asked whether Labor was now the party of uranium mines, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the party had "transparently and democratically … changed our policy" in 2007. Quizzed about nuclear power, he said the Government believed other energy options were sufficient for Australia's future.
Coalition resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane welcomed the decision. "Australia has got to exploit its uranium resources to the absolute maximum — it is the single base load technology lowering greenhouse emissions right around the world," he said.
But Greens leader Bob Brown blasted the decision, saying such a mine would not be allowed in the US because of the contamination of sub-ground water.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said that in 2007 Mr Garrett had told the ALP conference he had long been opposed to uranium mining and remained opposed. "Somewhere along his journey Peter Garrett has gone from 'long been opposed to uranium mining' to the minister who approves uranium mining."
Asked about the conflict between his decision and his former public stance on uranium, Mr Garrett told ABC radio he expressed his views when "appropriate" and had had strong views in party forums.
"I am now a cabinet minister, the decisions I am taking are consistent with policy that the Government took and continues to take to the people," Mr Garrett said. "I accept that some people won't think highly of the decisions of this kind."
He said his task as Environment Minister was to ensure the highest possible environmental standards. "I think that I am doing that job both properly and diligently and I expect to be judged on that basis."
Four Mile, like the nearby Beverley deposit, will be mined by "in-situ leach", which works by pumping a weak acid solution underground into the uranium-bearing formation through a series of wells.
The solution dissolves the uranium and leaves other substances behind. The uranium-rich solution is then returned to the surface where the uranium is extracted and treated.
Unlike the hard-rock mining methods used at Ranger and Olympic Dam, there is no need for big trucks and massive earth moving.
That is reflected in a speedy timetable and relatively low development cost of $90 million at Four Mile.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/garrett-gives-nod-to-uranium-mine-20090714-dk5w.html

Interior secretary: Mining reform a top priority

By JOAN LOWY – 6 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will make overhauling the nation's 137-year-old hardrock mining law a top priority despite a full plate of higher profile issues, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.
Salazar told a Senate committee considering such legislation that "it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines."
The General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation's public lands, has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers and streams throughout the West. Mining companies also don't pay royalties on gold, silver, copper and other hardrock minerals mined on public land.
Reform bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, but past attempts at reform have foundered in the face of opposition from industry and many Western lawmakers.
However, a new crop of conservation-minded lawmakers from the West and a new administration sympathetic to reforming the law have generated renewed interest in an overhaul.
Despite the press of health care reform and other signature issues embraced by President Obama, Congress still needs to take care of important but more mundane business like mining reform, Salazar told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Salazar, a former Colorado senator, said he sees "an emergence of bipartisan pressure to get this done."
He said when he meets with key members of this department, mining law reform will be among several "top tier" issues.
"We are committing significant resources from the Department of Interior to get this done," Salazar told reporters after the hearing. "I think there is a possibility we can get mining reform done in this Congress."
The Environmental Protection Agency's announcement Monday that it plans to develop new regulations related to bonds or other financial assurance by mining companies to protect against environmental abuses creates "a greater sense of urgency" for reform, Salazar said.
The EPA announcement follows a recent Supreme Court decision giving a mining company the go-ahead to dump waste from an Alaskan gold mine into a nearby 23-acre lake, although the material will kill all of the lake's fish.
The National Mining Association has said it supports reform in principle, but it has expressed reservations about the details of legislative proposals, particularly royalty formulas.
Some of the proposed royalty formulas would put otherwise profitable mines out of business and cost jobs, Heckla Mining Co. President and CEO Phillips Baker Jr. told the committee.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the senior Republican on the committee, also cautioned against choosing a royalty formula without carefully considering it's impact on the mining industry.
If U.S. mines close, the nation risks trading a reliance on foreign oil for a reliance on strategic minerals from other nations, the Alaska senator said.
But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the mining industry is responsible for "decades of taxpayer ripoffs and environmental destruction" and "they ought to have to pay their fair share."
Environmentalists said they were surprised and pleased by Salazar's testimony and the forcefulness of his remarks to reporters afterward.
"I think it's a very positive development that we have an Interior secretary in the Obama administration saying mining reform is a top priority and it needs to be done in this Congress," said Jane Danowitz, director of U.S. public lands programs at the Pew Environment Group.
Salazar also said that holds announced by Sen. John McCain last week on the confirmation of two high-level Interior Department officials could slow mining changes and limit the department's ability to deal with an array of public lands issues of importance to Western states.
McCain has said he wants the Obama administration to take a position on a proposed land-swap bill intended to pave the way for an Arizona copper mine.
The U.S. Forest Service is crafting a reply to the Arizona Republican, Salazar said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-BZexUnwUE3JuZnT0lhrqTlndfwD99EHM984

REFILE-China small coal mines back in action, but cautiously

Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:13am EDT

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By Rujun Shen and Tom Miles
SHANGHAI/BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) - Some of China's small coal mines are returning to production as the country enters the hottest time of the year, releasing some of the tightness in the market caused by efforts to tighten safety by shutting small mines, industry officials and analysts said on Tuesday.
Several provinces' efforts to tighten up and close small operators, often the least efficient and most dangerous coal producers, have tightened China's coal supply this year, a major factor driving China's record imports of coal in recent months, in addition to weaker international prices.
Shanxi, China's top coal producing province, allowed 633 coal mines to return to production in the first half of the year, or a quarter of mines in the province, the Shanxi Administration of Coal Mine Safety said on its website (www.sxsafety.gov.cn)
"Some mines may have reached safety standards and are allowed to produce again. Another important factor is that Shanxi's government revenues have taken a blow after small mines were shut. Fiscal revenues in local governments are running dry," said Wang Ye, an analyst with CITIC Securities.
Wang said Shanxi's coal output in June rose about 10 million tonnes, or 20 percent, to nearly 60 million tonnes.
Last year Shanxi produced 656 million tonnes of coal, up 4 percent from a year earlier, or about 23 percent of the country's total output. Gross domestic production in the first quarter of the year, however, contracted 8.1 percent, compared with a 12.5 percent rise a year earlier, according to official data from the National Bureau of Statistics and Shanxi Province Statistics Bureau. (www.stats-sx.gov.cn)
"Between starving and having their career blown away by a fatal mine accident, local government officials are pretty much between a rock and a hard place," Wang said.
Data due to be released later in the week is expected to show that output in the world's largest producer of the hydrocarbon rose in June, after surging 10 percent on the year to 248 million tonnes in May. [ID:nAPI000629]
Helping boost coal demand, China's power output returned to positive territory in June for the first time in months, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, as the weather and the economy both began to warm up. [ID:nPEK281077]
A full-blown recovery in small mines' production is unlikely to happen ahead of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic in October, analysts said, since high-profile accidents during such politically sensitive periods would be career bombs for local government officials.
China's coal market is likely to be in balance, or perhaps show a small surplus, through the summer, despite growing demand, analysts and industrial officials said.
"Demand is looking good, thanks to growing industrial activity. Supply is improving as well, not only because of small mines, but also due to high coal imports," said Chen Liang, an analyst with Everbright Securities.
China's coal imports hit record high levels over 9 million tonnes in April and May. Data for June is not yet available, but imports were likely at a similarly high level, traders said.
"We locked our earlier contracts when prices were lower. Those contracts will expire in August. At current price levels, imported coal is no longer competitive in the domestic market," said a Guangdong-based trader. (Editing by Ben Tan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssUtilitiesElectric/idUSSHA5627420090714

Former mine workers union chief Church dies at 72

11 hours ago
BRISTOL, Va. (AP) — Former United Mine Workers of America International President Sam Church has died.
Union spokesman Mike Kennedy says the 72-year-old Church died early Tuesday at Bristol Memorial Hospital in Virginia after a long illness.
Church was a native of Matewan, W.Va.
He began working in the mines in 1965 at Clinchfield Coal Co. in southwest Virginia, quickly rising through the local union ranks and joining UMWA's headquarters staff in 1975.
Church became the union's international president in 1979 when Arnold Miller resigned for health reasons. He held that job until 1982.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gw0CIRthZRrU6oSa--K6Pgu4IRgAD99ED93G0
Aboriginal people 'not heard' over mine
Posted 2 hours 39 minutes ago
Updated 18 minutes ago
• Map: Port Augusta 5700
• Related Story: Greens savage Garrett over uranium mine
Members of the Adnyamathanha Aboriginal community in South Australia's Flinders Ranges say they are outraged that their voices have not been heard during negotiations for the Four Mile uranium mine.
The new mine, managed by Quasar Resources, is near the existing Beverley uranium mine in the state's north-east.
Community member Jillian Marsh has completed a PhD on the Beverley mine and says the native title process is flawed.
Ms Marsh says Quasar Resources and the Government are ignoring the cultural concerns of the Adnyamathanha people.
"The native title process is not a process that offers any decision making power for Aboriginal people and there are regulations and requirements under the Aboriginal heritage legislation that are yet to be addressed," she said.
"So for a decision to be made by the Federal Environment Minister yesterday, raises some very serious concerns."
Ms Marsh says Adnyamathanha women who took part in the exploration work area clearance under the group's native title say their concerns are not being addressed.
"Quasar Resources has actually formally stated in one of their archaeological reports that they don't want women participating in work area clearance, which is totally unacceptable," she said.
Indigenous benefits
The Mineral Resources Development Minister, Paul Holloway, says there will be many benefits for Indigenous people with the approval of the Four Mile uranium mine in the State's north-east.
He says 20 percent of the workforce at the nearby Beverley Mine are Indigenous people.
Mr Holloway says increased jobs and royalties will benefit Aboriginal communities.
"It's important that the royalties that are paid to the local community of course enable those local communities to improve their training and look for other economic opportunities to sustain them in the long term," he said.
"There's really virtually no other source of revenue that they'd have to gain that level of self sufficiency, I think that the vast majority of people up there realise the benefits that will come from this mine."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/15/2626379.htm?site=news
Vedanta's India bauxite mining to begin by October
Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:49am EDT

NEW DELHI, July 10 (Reuters) - Vedanta Resources Plc (VED.L) said bauxite mining for its alumina plant in eastern India would begin by October and the company would invest $1.23 billion to expand its capacity sixfold by 2011.
"Mining operations in the Niyamgiri hills to feed our plant in Orissa will start by October this year," Mukesh Kumar, chief executive of Vedanta's project in the eastern state of Orissa, said on Friday. (Reporting by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Bryson Hull and Clarence Fernandez)
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSCOL47748020090710
Four Mile objections 'short-sighted'
Posted 38 minutes ago

SA Premier Mike Rann ... mine objections 'short-sighted'. (ABC News)
• Map: Adelaide 5000
• Related Story: Garrett brushes off hypocrisy taunts
The South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, says operations at the Beverley mine in the state's north show that uranium can be mined without damaging the surrounding environment.
Mr Rann has welcomed Federal Government approval for the new uranium mine to be developed near the Beverley site as early as next year.
He says objections to the Four Mile mine on environmental grounds are short-sighted.
"The fact is that there are many countries in the world that are choosing to embrace nuclear power to get their emissions down because of the damage done by fossil fuels, particularly coal," he said.
"So we've now got leading environmentalists actively advocating for nuclear power for other countries."
Criticism 'expected'
The company which part-owns the Four Mile uranium mine says criticism from environmental groups was expected.
The Greens and environmentalists say the mine will destroy the surrounding environment and leave a toxic legacy in the region.
But the managing director of Alliance Resources, Patrick Mutz, says that is far from the reality.
"While there will always be some objections, I think that in this case the Minister [Peter Garrett} made a very good decision, positive decision," he said.
"I'm biased in saying that of course, but I believe it from the standpoint that I also know that the process for uranium mining approval is rigorous and perhaps among the highest standards in the world."
Four Mile objections 'short-sighted'
Posted 38 minutes ago

SA Premier Mike Rann ... mine objections 'short-sighted'. (ABC News)
• The South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, says operations at the Beverley mine in the state's north show that uranium can be mined without damaging the surrounding environment.
Mr Rann has welcomed Federal Government approval for the new uranium mine to be developed near the Beverley site as early as next year.
He says objections to the Four Mile mine on environmental grounds are short-sighted.
"The fact is that there are many countries in the world that are choosing to embrace nuclear power to get their emissions down because of the damage done by fossil fuels, particularly coal," he said.
"So we've now got leading environmentalists actively advocating for nuclear power for other countries."
Criticism 'expected'
The company which part-owns the Four Mile uranium mine says criticism from environmental groups was expected.
The Greens and environmentalists say the mine will destroy the surrounding environment and leave a toxic legacy in the region.
But the managing director of Alliance Resources, Patrick Mutz, says that is far from the reality.
"While there will always be some objections, I think that in this case the Minister [Peter Garrett} made a very good decision, positive decision," he said.
"I'm biased in saying that of course, but I believe it from the standpoint that I also know that the process for uranium mining approval is rigorous and perhaps among the highest standards in the world."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/15/2626609.htm?site=news
Tuesday July 14, 2009
Court bars protesters at Massey mine in W.Va.
by The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal giant Massey Energy Co. has obtained a court order barring 14 anti-mining protesters from returning to one of its southern West Virginia mines where the demonstrators were arrested in June.
The protesters face $10,000 fines if they return to Massey's Twilight surface mine or other Boone County operations, according to the order.
The preliminary injunction is the latest in a series of skirmishes between the coal industry and opponents of mountaintop removal mining, a highly efficient yet destructive practice that involves blasting away ridges to extract multiple seams of high-energy, low-sulfur coal.
Most of the protests have targeted Massey operations in southern West Virginia. The Richmond, Va.-based company sought the preliminary injunction after a June 18 incident at Twilight, where the 14 were arrested on various charges, including trespassing, littering and battery. Four of the protesters scaled the 300-foot boom of a piece of earthmoving equipment to unfurl a sign urging a ban on mountaintop mining.
The protesters have engaged in a pattern of trespassing at Massey operations and made it clear they plan to keep doing so, causing irreparable harm to the company, Boone County Circuit Court Judge William Thompson wrote.
Thompson signed the order last week.
Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater declined to comment beyond saying the company is addressing protests at various operations "as they occur.'' Protesters targeted the company's Goals Coal processing plant in Raleigh County last month, when actress Daryl Hannah and NASA scientist James Hansen were among 31 people arrested.
A representatives for Rainforest Action Network, which has been involved with the protests, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Coal giant Massey Energy Co. has obtained a court order barring 14 anti-mining protesters from returning to one of its southern West Virginia mines where the demonstrators were arrested in June.
The protesters face $10,000 fines if they return to Massey's Twilight surface mine or other Boone County operations, according to the order.
The preliminary injunction is the latest in a series of skirmishes between the coal industry and opponents of mountaintop removal mining, a highly efficient yet destructive practice that involves blasting away ridges to extract multiple seams of high-energy, low-sulfur coal.
Most of the protests have targeted Massey operations in southern West Virginia. The Richmond, Va.-based company sought the preliminary injunction after a June 18 incident at Twilight, where the 14 were arrested on various charges, including trespassing, littering and battery. Four of the protesters scaled the 300-foot boom of a piece of earthmoving equipment to unfurl a sign urging a ban on mountaintop mining.
The protesters have engaged in a pattern of trespassing at Massey operations and made it clear they plan to keep doing so, causing irreparable harm to the company, Boone County Circuit Court Judge William Thompson wrote.
Thompson signed the order last week.
Massey spokesman Jeff Gillenwater declined to comment beyond saying the company is addressing protests at various operations "as they occur.'' Protesters targeted the company's Goals Coal processing plant in Raleigh County last month, when actress Daryl Hannah and NASA scientist James Hansen were among 31 people arrested.
A representatives for Rainforest Action Network, which has been involved with the protests, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200907140317


Other News
Govt readies selloff list
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT


Mukherjee: Initiating talks
New Delhi, July 14: The UPA government today promised more action in divestment, raising hopes that collections on this account would be far in excess of Rs 1,120 crore announced in the budget.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha during a debate on the budget that his ministry was trying to identify PSUs whose stakes could be offloaded.
He reaffirmed the government’s determination to avoid monetising the huge fiscal deficit, meaning the government would not meet its expenses by printing money.
“My ministry has initiated the discussions for identifying these undertakings (for divestment). Details will be announced in due course,” Mukherjee said.
Upstream firm Oil India and hydel power producer NHPC, which have already received permission, are expected to hit the market with their maiden offers in August-September. However, the government will continue to hold at least 51 per cent in the PSUs.
Finance ministry officials said talks had been held with coal, mining and telecom ministry officials to identify the PSUs for stake dilution.
The government plans to divest 10 per cent initially in those firms where it has 100 per cent holding.
Sources said selloffs might happen in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Coal India Limited and ore producer NMDC Limited.
Mukherjee said the economy was showing early signs of recovery and argued that a wider budget deficit “right now” was critical for growth. Fiscal deficit in Budget 2009-10 has shot up to 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product, and government borrowings are estimated at a massive Rs 4,50,000 crore.
“Some of the positive signs in the Indian economy are a 13 per cent growth in steel production, a 13.1 per cent growth in cement output, and a growth of 14.3 per cent in the automobile sector, driven by a 17.4 per cent increase in the demand for two-wheelers,” Mukherjee said.
He said the borrowing and high fiscal deficit were “risks that we have taken with the hope that the economy will turn around”.
The increase in deficit will not “elbow out” the borrowing needs of private firms. The government is “working in tandem” with the RBI to ensure enough money is available, the finance minister said.
Mukherjee’s upbeat stance was one of the factors that fuelled the stock rally on Dalal Street today. The sensex jumped 453 points, the biggest gain since June 9.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090715/jsp/business/story_11238552.jsp

Government to map low-carbon road
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website


Thousands of coastal wind turbines may be part of the plan


A huge expansion of wind power, home insulation and "smart" electricity meters are among measures being planned to build the UK's low-carbon future.
Ministers hope their Carbon Transition Plan will help them meet 2020 targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and expanding renewable energy.
Campaigners say the plan is a chance for the UK to lead on climate change.
The government admits consumers will pay more for energy, but believes that overall the economy can benefit.
The plan is due to be published later on Wednesday.
Current government figures say emissions have already fallen by 22% from 1990.

Seizing the green initiative will create exciting new jobs and business opportunities

Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth
The Low Carbon Transition Plan and its associated measures will plot a path towards the 34% target by 2020.
They will also aim to point the economy towards EU targets for 2020 of a 15% share of energy from renewables and a 20% increase in energy efficiency.
Beyond that, the government has set a goal of slashing emissions by 80% by 2050.
As well as tackling climate change, the government believes changing to a low-carbon economy will help create jobs and industries.
Writing in Sunday's Observer newspaper, Gordon Brown declared that "within a decade, 1.2 million people in the UK will be employed in the green sector as a result of the investment decisions we are making".
Countries that develop green technologies and services first will, he said, "reap the richest rewards".
In the wind
In April, Chancellor Alistair Darling formally announced that the UK would live within "carbon budgets" - limits on emissions - just as it attempts to live within financial budgets.
The budgets were recommended by the government's advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), in December; and the key figure - which the government has accepted - is a 34% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020.

EXPECTED MEASURES

Smart meters in every home
Easier, more flexible loan schemes for home insulation
Better financial incentives for home electricity generation
Measures to facilitate up to 7,000 new wind turbines
Incentives for cycling and electric vehicles
However, many observers say that the renewables sector is currently growing far too slowly to meet the 15% target, and want ministers to be specific about how they will encourage green businesses.
"We will be looking for hard policy content and rapid delivery timetables from Wednesday's documents," said Gaynor Hartnell, policy director of the Renewable Energy Association (REA)
"The encouraging rhetoric we are now hearing from (Energy and Climate Secretary) Ed Miliband and the Prime Minister on the vital importance of our industry must translate into practical and rapid measures."
The Low Carbon Transition Plan - a white paper - will be accompanied by:
• a Low Carbon Industrial Strategy, focussing on "green growth" in industry and business
• a Renewable Energy Strategy detailing how the UK will meet its 15% target
• Low Carbon Transport: a Greener Future, outlining the transport sector's contribution to greenhouse gas reductions
'Vast potential'
Environmental campaigners have long criticised the government as being long on international rhetoric but short on action.
But the low-carbon strategy, many believe, is a chance for the UK to show the rest of the world that it is serious about cutting emissions, and that economic benefits can accrue.
Governments are currently discussing elements of a prospective major new deal on combating climate change, which is supposed to be finalised at a UN climate summit in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
"The government has a unique opportunity to... show bold international leadership ahead of crucial UN climate negotiations by setting out a detailed route map for slashing UK emissions," said Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth UK.
"Seizing the green initiative will create exciting new jobs and business opportunities through ambitious measures to cut energy waste and develop the UK's vast green energy potential."
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8150919.stm

SHRC raids police station, 'frees' women, children
TNN 15 July 2009, 03:39am IST
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BANGALORE: A team from the the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) raided Varthur police station on Tuesday morning and freed five women and 10


children who had been picked up in connection with a dacoity case.

Following a complaint by the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM), the SHRC team comprising member Parthasarathy and Justice Raddi visited the police station, where four men were supposed to have been detained for interrogation in connection with a dacoity. The team found five women and 10 children in a room on the first floor.

The police said the women and children had come to visit their relatives, the four persons they were interrogating. The SHRC team asked for the women and children to be sent home. The police had neither registered a case nor made any diary entry.

The four men, from Bihar and West Bengal, are said to be part of a nine-member gang. They work as construction labourers near Whitefield.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-City-Bangalore-SHRC-raids-police-station-frees-women-children/articleshow/4777771.cms

Indian tiger park 'has no tigers'
By Faisal Mohammad Ali
BBC News, Bhopal


Most of the tigers at Panna National Park were killed by poachers
One of India's main tiger parks - Panna National Park - has admitted it no longer has any tigers.
The park, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, was part of the country's efforts to save the famous Royal Bengal Tiger from extinction.
State Minister of Forests Rajendra Shukla said that the reserve, which three years ago had 24 tigers, no longer had any.
A special census was conducted in the park by a premier wildlife institute, after the forest authorities reported no sightings of the animals for a long time.
This is the second tiger reserve in India, after Sariska in Rajasthan, where numbers have dwindled to zero.
Warning bells
Officials from the wildlife department say there is no "explicable" reason for the falling number of tigers.
But a report prepared by the central forest ministry says Panna cannot be compared with Sariska because "warning bells were sounded regularly for the last eight years".


The report says wildlife authorities failed to see the impending disaster despite repeated warnings, and lost most of Panna's big cats to poaching.
While this controversy rages, there have been reports that another national park in Madhya Pradesh, Sanjay National Park, which was included in the tiger project three years ago, also has no tigers left.
The park had a population of 15 tigers until the late 1990s.
Of the more than 1,400 tigers in the country, 300 dwell in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which is also called the "tiger state of India".
Best managed
But Madhya Pradesh's forest minister Rajendra Shukla says all the news is not bleak.
"Panna is our only park which has lost on this count," he says. "Three of state's reserve forests - Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench - have been adjudged among the best managed tiger reserves in the country."
Mr Shukla has drawn up a seven-member committee comprising the state's chief conservator of forests and experts, to ascertain why the tigers have disappeared.

Indian officials regularly carry out tiger censuses in the national parks
The chief conservator, HS Pabla, told the BBC that the report would be submitted some time in August.
He said that tigers from Sanjay National Park "could have strayed to the adjoining area, which is now part of the state of Chattisgarh, created some years ago."
The authorities have recently transported two female tigers to Panna from another nearby tiger park, and sought permission from the central administration to bring in four more, two of them males.
Project tiger
India had 40,000 tigers a century ago, but the numbers dwindled fast because of hunting and poaching.
The country banned tiger hunting and launched an ambitious conservation effort named Project Tiger to increase the population of the endangered species.
A number of forest areas were declared national parks and funds allotted for protecting the tigers.
Though the programme bore fruit initially, with the decline in numbers checked because of a hunting ban, recent years have seen a phenomenal rise in poaching, which is now organised almost along the lines of drug-smuggling.
The authorities have not been able to put a stop to it, owing to the ever-changing techniques used by the cartels, and corruption within.
MK Ranjitsingh, a member of National Wildlife Advisory Board, says the authorities must crack down on the poachers by preventing their activities in the parks, and stopping the export of tiger products.
And they must, he adds, lobby for international pressure on the nations of the Far East, which are the main buyers of such goods.
There have been reports that there is a huge demand for tiger bones, claws and skin in countries like China, Taiwan and Korea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8150382.stm