Indian economy grew by 9.2% during July to September quarter and by 9.1% during April to June the first half of 2006-07. Dr P Chidambaram finance minister said that he felt the economy could close out this fiscal at over 9%. He said I hope that the current year turns out to be one of the best years of economic growth.

Manufacturing, which contributes to 16% of the GDP, registered a growth of by 11.6 % in H1. Within services, trade and communications has grown the fastest at 13.5% in the six month period, construction is at 9.7% and financing and real estate at 9.2 % and 9.5%. The only weak link in the growth story was in the farm sector which grew by only 2.6% during the first half.

Mr Chidambaram said inflation was the only worrying factor in the overall macro economic story. He said the current rates of growth were the highest since reforms were launched. However, such fast growth is likely to stoke fears of the economy overheating in the central bank. Counteracting this tendency would be buoyant tax collections that rein in the governments need for borrowings.

Before the onset of reforms, overall growth used to be driven by agriculture. The only year in which the Indian economy achieved double digit growth, at 10.5%, had been in 1988-89, when agriculture, recovering from drought the previous year, had grown by a stupendous 15.4%.

Indian government aims to achieve a 9% growth during 2007-12, while targeting a 10% growth in later years of the 11th Five-Year plan.

ET has reported that GPT group is considering setting up an integrated steel plant with a capacity of 2.89 million tones per annum in south Gujarat with an investment of Rs 9,700 crore and has asked for 1,500 acres of land near Dahej preferable adjacent to a port.

The report cites sources in Gujarat government and GPT having confirmed the development as We are looking at Gujarat mainly because of competitive availability of natural gas on a long term basis. Our experience with the state so far has been very good. Initially, we require around 500 acres of land.

GPT Groups already has a cold rolling and tinning complex with a capacity of 650,000 tonnes per annum at Gandhidham and a 60,000 tonnes spiral pipe plant near Vadodara in the state of Gujarat.

PTI has reported that 6 miners were killed on Thursday after being trapped in a Coal India Limiteds Eastern Coalfields Ltds Shyamsunderpur Colliery at Andal in Burdwan district of West Bengal's following a mine cave in.

As per report the miners were working on night shift when the mine caved in at around 5.30 AM and 1 body has been extricated with 4 other bodies still trapped under a 60 feet chunk of sandstone which fell on them. Three other injured who came out of the pit are admitted to hospital.

ET has reported that TATA Steel, Ispat Industries, Jindals and Essar Steel along with Institute of Steel Development and Growth have picked up a stake SteelScape Solutions, newly formed to step up use of steel in architecture and also create bankable IP in design solutions. As per reports, efforts are underway to rope in SAIL and RINL to participate in the venture.

Mr R K P Singh deputy general of Institute of Steel Development and Growth told ET that, It is for the first time that steel companies have come forward to participate in a company, exclusively dedicated to creating new age contemporary architectural design based on steel the objective is to step up use of steel in architecture and also create bankable IP in design solutions.

Mr Singh told that the boom in construction sector across the country has triggered off a rise in demand for construction grade steel, but unlike developed countries, there is very little use of steel structures in architecture. He said That is precisely the gap that Steelscape is planning to address. We will design smart structures that will optimize the use of steel in building solutions using advanced software.

Finnish stainless steel producer Outokumpu announced it is opening a sales office in New Delhi in India to tap into the countrys strong demand growth with one of its objectives being education of current and potential stainless steel users about the full potential of the material.

A company statement said In particular the Outokumpu team will aid efforts to boost the countrys low per capita consumption of stainless steel and to effect a shift away from low alloyed, manganese grades, convinced that only more highly alloyed grades can achieve improvement in industrial standards.

Mr Andrea Gatti executive VP for commercial operations said "India faces vastly increasing needs for high alloyed, high quality stainless steel to support sustainable growth and industrialization in the country. We believe that India will in the future be recognized as a major player in the quality stainless steel arena.

Dr.Dasari Narayana Rao minister of state for coal informed Rajya Sabha said that it has been decided by the Government to give priority to the power and steel sectors in allocation of coal blocks.

He informed that it has further been decided that preference in allocation should be given to power projects of 500 MW and above and steel plants with more than 1million tonnes per annum capacity.

He added that small applicant companies which form a consortium for utilization of a coal block for their captive use are eligible for allocation of coal blocks by the Government and the demand of small companies can also be met through linkage of coal from Public Sector coal companies and through e-auction.

PSL Ltd reported to BSE that the Company has bagged a prestigious contract for supply of Carbon Steel barc line pipes valuing INR 308 Crores for supply of pipes for a total length of 600 Kilometer to BINA Refinery Project of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd which is to be completed within a year.

Note: Further the Company has informed that, as informed earlier "The Company has bagged a prestigious contract for supply of Carbon Steel Barc Line Pipes valuing Rs 308 Crores for meeting the requirements of BINA Refinery in Sultanate of Oman." Since inadvertently, a small typographical error has crept up in the said announcement. The correct announcement should be read as follows, "The Company has bagged a prestigious contract for supply of Carbon Steel Barc Line Pipes valuing Rs 308 Crores for meeting the requirements of BINA Refinery of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd".

Maharashtra Seamless Ltd has been informed that it has been awarded as one of the 200 Best Under A Billion Companies listed in Forbes Asia.

Forbes Asia's annual Best Under A Billion selections showcase the region's most dynamic publicly traded firms with sales under a Billion US Dollars. Track records of sustained growth and profitability distinguish these Companies, as do savvy management teams with business models increasingly aimed at sales both at home and abroad."

BS is reported that power generation companies of Maharashtra and Gujarat has formed a JV MAHAGUJ to explore coal in Orissa which started operations since September 2006 and that the JV has already been allotted two mining blocks Machhakata and Mahanadi with estimated coal reserves of 700 million tonnes. The coal will be used at the Koradi and Chandrapur thermal units

Mahagenco and Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited will not be directly involved in mining operations. It would be outsourced to mining contractors.

Mr Vinay Bapat director of Mahagenco told BS that Maharashtra will get 60% coal mined by the JV which would be used in production of 2,000MW for the next 30 years. Mr Bapat said that the step had been necessitated for Maharashtra when its principal coal supplier, Western Coalfields Limited expressed its inability to meet future demands of the state power utility and that Mahagenco is expected to be self reliant in coal linkage so as to get quality coal and at a cheaper price by 2009.

Xinhua has reported that new moves to modernize the Chinese steel industry went into effect with the government's announcement that the outdated steel smelting ovens of 26 steel firms will be demolished next year and that under the National Development and Reform Commission's restructuring plan for the steel industry, China will scale back iron and steel production by about 100 million tons in the next 5 years to eliminate redundant production.

Mr Guo Dajian director of the Hebei provincial development and reform commission said "The government is determined to make the restructuring run to schedule. If firms on the blacklist fail to follow orders, they will be punished by having their production license suspended and water and power supplies cut.

According to NDRC figures, Hebei with crude steel output of 90 million tons in 2006 accounting for 21% of Chinas production has 88 steel makers whose production capacity is only 839,000 tons on average. The province has been ordered to cut iron production by 45% and steel production by 27% in this round of industrial restructuring.

The first group of 26 firms in north China's Hebei Province will cut iron production by 3.98 million tons and steel production by 3.73 million tons. Obsolete capacity prescribed to be phased out covers small BFs under 300 cubic meter and small converters as well as small EAFs of less than 20 tons capacity.

The government is known to issue lists of the second batch and the third batch of obsolete capacity to be erased and to complete the elimination by the end of next year.

(Sourced for Mysteel.net)

China's largest steel maker Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp reserved comments on a news paper report that it may invite Nippon Steel and POSCO to buy its shares. As per reports, staff at Baosteel's headquarters said that Ms Xie chairwoman of BaoSteel is visiting Japan and could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman at Nippon Steel Corp said that it has not received a request from Baosteel Group Corp. to buy shares in the Chinese company. The Nippon Steel spokesman declined to comment further saying that "We won't answer any hypothetical questions as a matter of policy.

Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoting Baosteel chairwoman Ms Xie Qihua had reported that Baosteel Group Corp may ask Nippon Steel Corp to take some stake in the Chinese company. Nihon Keizai said that the sizes of the stakes are likely to be a few percent. Ms Xie in an interview with the business daily said that BaoSteel may make requests of Nippon Steel and POSCO to buy its shares if it lists on overseas markets.

It is reported that Gerdau SA and Arcelor Mittal may bid for a majority stake in the Colombia's second largest steelmaker Acerias Paz del Rio which is to be auctioned next year as both of them have asked he Colombian antitrust regulator for the approval of a possible takeover of Paz del Rio.

Mr Jairo Rubio the head of the Colombian antitrust regulator said that Arcelor's request was made a few days ago while Gerdau's was made some time earlier. Mr Rubio said he will issue an opinion on a possible takeover before the end of December but declined to give more details due to the confidential nature of the proceedings. He added that no other company approached the regulator about a possible merger which must first be authorized.

As per reports, about 52% shares of Acerias Paz del Rio's are likely to be put on block in early 2007 and that at least 43% shares controlled by the Colombian government and a group of 6,700 former and current workers would not be sold.

Chinese government has cut the export rebate on low end steel products, which has yet to bring down the roaring steel exports. Thus, the regulators are mulling over further reduction on export rebate, indicated by Mr Wu Xichun senior consultant of China Iron & Steel Association, at a recent steel conference.

In the meantime, 10% export tax on semis also fails to curb the export of slab & billet, most of which are shipped to East Asia and Taiwan. Buyers in those markets are more willing to accept higher price.

Mr Wu urges domestic steelmakers to expand direct sales volume and improve distribution scheme. Mills are prohibited to revise EXW price too frequently and offer incentives to their contracted traders.

Steel mills and contracted agents have a win-win relationship when the market is good, but when market prices fall, mills EXW prices are higher than market prices. Mills then pay their agents some compensation over a period of one or more months to balance these losses.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)

Russian companies Basic Element, Renova and Severstal have announced the establishment of a 3 party consortium which hopes to participate in the development of the Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit in the South Gobi region of Mongolia.

Basic Element, Renova and Severstal believe that the union of their potential and experience in deposits complex development would contribute to the project success and the consortium will become a reliable partner of the Government of Mongolia. The consortium participants wish to be considered as investors in the construction of mining, transport and power infrastructure on a parity basis. Special attention would be paid to such issues as environmental protection and the regions social development.

Tavan Tolgoi is one of the worlds largest undeveloped high quality coking coal deposits. It is located in immediate proximity to the growing market of South-Eastern Asia.

Basic Element is a private equity fund was founded in 1997 and was known as Sibirsky Aluminium until 2001. Basic Elements core assets are in Energy, Machinery, Resources, Financial Services, Construction and Development sectors. The consolidated revenues of the Groups enterprises amount to over $13 billion with asset value exceeding $14 billion.

Renova Group of Companies was established in 1990. It is a shareholder and a strategic investor of leading Russian companies and holdings involved in metallurgy, oil, machine building, mining, chemical, construction industries, energy, housing maintenance, and financial sectors. Assets managed by the Group exceed $10 billion.

Severstal is one of the largest Russian industrial companies with operations in 8 countries of the world. Severstal owns steel and metal ware production facilities situated in Russia, North America, France and Italy, and Russian ore and mining assets specializing on production of pellets and coking coal concentrate. Severstals total sales reached $11.6 billion in 2005.

The fire at the MMK, which broke out at one of the workshops of MMK on Tuesday evening at about 19:30PM Moscow time resulting in collapse of about 1,200 square meter of roof metal constructions, had been extinguished by 6:45AM Moscow time on Wednesday. The latest reports said the fire and roof collapse killed at least six men and one woman and nine others sustained injuries of varying degrees. Rescuers are continuing to look for one more person who can still be trapped under the debris.

Interfax has reported that the Chelyabinsk regional prosecutor's office has taken up the criminal probe into the fire at the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works which killed at least seven and injured nine. Mr Viktor Smok a senior aide to the regional prosecutor told Interfax that the case has been passed on to the regional prosecutor's office by the Ordzhonikidze district of Magnitogorsk and that regional prosecutor office's special investigations department will handle the case with five officers. Mr Smok said "An investigation, which includes forensic medical and fire safety expert analyses, is under way. Mr Smok said that investigators are pursuing quite a large number of theories behind the incident among them a short circuit and sparking on a bearing.

Meanwhile, Mr Pyotr Sumin governor of Chelyabinsk Region's governor has declared December 1 to be a day of mourning for the workers who died in the Magnitogorsk plant fire and the entertaining performances and events were cancelled in the region on December 1st.

Commercial Metals Company announced that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with Bruhler Stahlhandel GmbH to acquire substantially all the operating assets of its steel fabrication business at Rosslau of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany. The acquisition, to be made by CMC's subsidiary Commercial Metals Deutschland GmbH, is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of the year.

The fabrication unit has an annual capacity of 40'000 tons with customers in the eastern and western part of Germany serving the construction industry. It reaches the major markets surrounding Leipzig, Halle, Berlin, Hanover and Hamburg.

Mr Hanns Zoellner president of CMC's marketing and distribution segment, who will have responsibility for the operations, said "This acquisition continues our vertical integration strategy in Central Europe by enhancing our downstream capability in a strategic market."

Mr Ludo Gajdos president of CMC Zawiercie SA, CMC's Polish steel minimill, added "Major synergies exist between this acquisition and our current Polish operations. This will complement our fabrication operation at Zawiercie in Poland, extending our reach to western Poland and eastern Germany while providing more base load for our minimill."

Commercial Metals Company and subsidiaries manufacture, recycle and market steel and metal products, related materials and services through a network including steel minimills, steel fabrication and processing plants, construction-related product warehouses, a copper tube mill, metal recycling facilities and marketing and distribution offices in the United States and in strategic overseas markets.

BHP Billiton has announced the approval of increased capital costs for the Ravensthorpe Nickel Project to a total budget of $2.2 billion and that lower than expected labor productivity and late delivery of some materials and equipment at Ravensthorpe means that the target date for first metal ex Yabulu from Ravensthorpe is now first quarter calendar year 2008.

Mr Jimmy Wilson president of BHPBs Stainless Steel Materials said that while market conditions had led to the increased capital costs the project was still well positioned to deliver positive results. Mr Wilson said "At the time the original cost estimate for Ravensthorpe was prepared, the current tightness and cost escalation for labor and materials, which are especially severe in Western Australia, were not apparent. Production is eagerly sought in a market which requires additional nickel units to keep pace with continuing strong demand. Ravensthorpe and the expanded production from Yabulu are well placed to meet part of this demand.

The design of Ravensthorpe benefits from an extensive understanding of existing nickel acid leach operations. The design and much of the equipment and materials have undergone extensive pilot plant testing. Scale-up factors are conservative by normal industry standards.
"We have done a lot of work to ensure that the plant will operate as designed, and that we can ramp up production at a rate which will enable nickel to be delivered to customers as early as possible," Mr Wilson said.

BHPB said that the construction at Ravensthorpe is now approximately 73% complete with engineering and procurement activities now finalized and offsite fabrication 97% complete. The Yabulu refinery expansion is approximately 87% complete and on schedule for mechanical completion by the end of calendar year 2006.

Ravensthorpe Nickel is an integrated mine and primary processing facility now under construction at Ravensthorpe in Western Australia. The project involves open pit mining from three adjacent ore bodies, and a hydrometallurgical process plant to treat both limonite and saprolite ores to produce up to 50,000 tonnes per annum of contained nickel and 1400 tonnes of contained cobalt in a mixed intermediate product for further processing at BHP Billitons Yabulu nickel refinery at Queensland in Australia.

Metal Bulletin and World Steel Dynamics are organizing the 4th Steel Success Strategies Europe Conference on 3rd to 5th December 2006 at Amsterdam in The Netherlands as the. global steel industry has entered the "Age of the Steel King - the victors and the vanquished". The age of the steel king might also be called the age of critical decisions by top management to address the impact of the consolidation and mergers & acquisition frenzy sweeping the industry.

Consolidation is on the minds of most steel industry executives. Steel company investors and investment bankers are feeding the frenzy by pressing management to be bold when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to this understanding the implications of emerging markets, supply and demand dynamics and raw material prices are key for industry executives to stay ahead of competitors as everyone is impatient to win in this rapidly changing environment.

It is reported that Fortescue Metals Group has secured long awaited approvals from the West Australian government to construct a railway to service its $3.7 billion iron ore project in the Pilbara. Construction of the railway is expected to take about 12 months.

At full production of 45 million tonnes per annum, FMG will become Australia's third largest producer of iron ore behind BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

A preliminary meeting between Cia. Vale do Rio Doce and Chinese buyers on 2007 iron ore prices was notable for its friendly atmosphere, according to sources close to the Brazilian company quoted by the Valor Economico newspaper.

The meeting took place last Thursday in Shanghai between CVRD's new price negotiating team and a group of Chinese steelmakers headed by Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp., the sources said. They indicated that the 2007 price talks are likely to be wrapped up far more quickly than last year's negotiations, which stretched on for nearly eight months.

Mr Fidel Blanco, a CVRD sales manager, recently indicated that the 2007 talks could be swifter as it would be the second year that Chinese steelmakers negotiate prices directly with iron ore companies without Chinese government involvement. "The Chinese are learning how to buy iron ore and are learning quickly," he said.

Analyst Mr Sigurd Mareels said that the 2006 negotiations dragged on for a long time because various Chinese provinces and companies "were speaking with different voices and it was difficult for Baosteel to get a direct voice."

Sector analyst Mr Rodrigo Barros said he believes iron ore prices should be settled by March 2007. Unibanco's forecast of an 8% increase for fines and 4% for pellets could be revised upwards, he said.

Meetings are scheduled this week between CVRD and European and Japanese steelmakers, according to the Valor Economico report. CVRD's new lead price negotiator is Mr Renato Neves, who has been with the company for 40 years, the last five of which were spent heading up CVRD's Tokyo office.

CVRD, which has taken the lead in international price settlements for the past five years, declined to comment on its meeting schedule or on any progress it has made.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)

The Swedish Steel Prize 2006 has been awarded to the two Italian companies Fiat and Wagon Automotive that have developed and realized an advanced safety component for the front doors of the newly launched Fiat Grande Punto.

The winning entry is internal waistline reinforcement in the front doors of the recently launched Fiat Grande Punto. The internal waistline reinforcement is very thin, lightweight and strong, and is of space saving design. It performs a vital task, while being suitable for mounting in the confined space just below the windows of the front doors. The designers have put to use the latest developments in materials and production technology.

The jury was impressed by the way the designers have utilized advanced high strength steel, which has resulted in a component that can meet the highest collision protection demands in an efficient manner that is economical on resources, space and the environment. The design was developed and realized by Fiat and the roll forming specialist company, Wagon Automotive.

The Fiat Grande Punto has been awarded highest marks in the Euro NCAP safety test, and the car is characterized by high safety, low fuel consumption, good environmental properties and an attractive price. The prize winning safety component of advanced high strength steel contributes to the car having all of these properties.

Mr Gan Carlsson head of division at SSAB Tunnpl and shairman of the Swedish Steel Prize jury said "Advanced high strength steels are continually gaining ground among designers around the world, and the Swedish Steel Prize has contributed to increasing the interest in the opportunities offered by the steels. High strength steels make it possible to develop products with better properties and at reasonable cost. This is extremely well illustrated by the winning entry, and the two companies have shown great innovativeness in their work. They are both worthy winners of the Swedish Steel Prize."

In addition two runners up prizes were awarded to the Spanish IMEM lift manufacturer for a new, lightweight lift chassis and to the Canadian company Multina for a new, lighter and more comfortable bus seat. The jury also decided to award honorable mention to the Brazilian company Pastre for its design of a new lightweight trailer for sugar transport.

The Swedish Steel Prize was founded by the SSAB Tunnpl in order to highlight and acknowledge innovative designs and solutions for which advanced high strength steels are employed. Over the years, the Prize has been awarded to companies in several parts of the world. Any company or individual that uses high strength steel in the design of a product or has developed a method of working high strength steel can enter for the Swedish Steel Prize. The prize is awarded annually and is announced at a banquet in Stockholm.

Lone Star Technologies Inc announced that it has completed the previously announced JV transaction with Grupo Peixoto de Castro to produce finished welded oilfield tubular products.

Pursuant to the agreement, Lone Star has acquired a 50% ownership stake in Apolo Mecanica e Estruturas LTDA an oilfield tubular products facility in southeastern Brazil that is operated by Apolo for approximately $42 million, of which $24 million was paid at closing with the balance to be paid over the next 18 months. The remaining 50% ownership stake will be held by GPC, and profits from the Joint Venture will be shared equally between the two partners.

Grupo Peixoto de Castro is a Brazilian holding company, whose principal operating subsidiaries manufacture and distributes refined petroleum derived products, lubricants, chemicals and petrochemicals, steel tubular products and refractory materials. The Group is also active in the banking and real estate industries.

Lone Star Technologies Inc is a holding company whose principal operating subsidiaries manufacture and market oilfield casing, tubing, and line pipe, specialty tubing products, including finned tubes used in a variety of heat recovery applications, and flat rolled steel and other tubular products and services.

Mittal Steel South Africa announced that its chairman & non executive director of the company Mr Khayakhulu Ngqula had resigned with effect from the year end without assigning any reason and that he would be replaced by non executive board member Mr Khotso Mokhele on January 1st 2007.

Mr Ngqula is chief executive of state owned South African Airways and Mr Mokhele is the president of South Africa's National Research Foundation.

The announcement adds that Mr LN Mittal president & CEO of Arcelor Mittal has also resigned as a non executive board member and would be replaced by Mr Michel Wurth effectively immediately. Mr Wurth is head of flat products Europe for Arcelor Mittal.

Mittal Steel SA said The board has accepted Ngqula's and Mittal's resignation with regret.

It is reported that UAE based Al Nasser Industrial Enterprises has launched the construction of two new manufacturing plants o manufacture steel billets and sponge iron at the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi ICAD 1. The plants are expected to be commissioned by April 2008.

One of the plants will be a HYL-ZR DRI sponge iron plant with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per annum and the other plant will manufacture steel billets and have a capacity of 350,000 tonnes per annum. HYL of Mexico will supply, build and provide the technology for the DRI plant and GA Danieli will supply the furnace for the billet plant. The two projects will utilize 80 MW of power supplied by Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority and natural gas supplied by ADNOC.

Mr Abdulla Nasser Hawaileel Al Mansoori chairman of ANIE said that "By such investment ANIE will become the second largest integrated steel producer in the UAE." He explained that ANIE's steel mills presently utilize steel billets purchased from the international market. However, with the commissioning of the new manufacturing facilities and the company's backward integration into DRI and billets, ANIE would reduce its dependence on the global market and leverage the local availability of raw material for steel manufacture.

Evraz Group has announced the launch of the acquisition of Oregon Steel Mills shares through its wholly owned subsidiary Oscar Acquisition Merger Sub Inc for the purpose of buying a 100% stake in the US based company. The offer will be subject to customary conditions, including anti trust and other regulatory clearances and the acquisition by Evraz of a majority of Oregon Steel's shares on a fully diluted basis.

The tender offer is being made pursuant to a previously announced definitive agreement among Evraz, Oscar Acquisition Merger Sub Inc and Oregon Steel dated November 20, 2006. Upon the successful closing of the tender offer, Oregon Steel stockholders will receive $63.25 in cash for each share of Oregon Steel common stock tendered in the offer, less any required withholding taxes. Following the purchase of shares in the tender offer, Oregon Steel will become a subsidiary of Evraz.

The offer will be $63.25 cash for each share minus withholding taxes. The tender offer is valid until December 28th 2006 and may be extended in accordance with US legislation. Credit Suisse is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Evraz and will be the dealer manager for the tender offer. UBS Securities LLC is acting as lead financial advisor to Oregon Steel in the transaction and KeyBanc Capital Markets delivered a fairness opinion to Oregon Steel's board of directors. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is acting as legal counsel to Evraz, and Covington & Burling LLP and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, PC are acting as legal counsel to Oregon Steel.

It is reported that Pakistans Supreme Court has ordered the formation of a larger bench to hear a review petition filed by the federal government against the Supreme Courts earlier verdict on the Pakistan Steel Mills privatization case. The chief justice issued directions for the formation a larger bench to hear the petition and adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.

As per reports, a 3 member bench consisting of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad issued notice to Attorney General Mr Makhdoom Ali Khan and respondents Barrister Zafarullah Khan and the Peoples Workers Union of the Pakistan Steel Mills and adjourned the proceedings when Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada representing the Privatization Commission asked the court to form a larger bench since the main petition was heard and decided by a nine member Supreme Court bench.

Rio Tinto and Sumitomos 80:20 JV for Northparkes Mine has approved the development of the E48 block cave project at New South Wales in Australia at an estimated cost of $160 million for extending mine life until 2016. The project is still subject to development approval from the New South Wales Department of Planning.

As per release, the E48 block cave will progressively replace the current block cave from 2009, and output from E48 will be processed in the existing concentrator and transported by rail to Port Kembla for export.

Mr Bret Clayton Rio Tinto Copper CEO said The Northparkes mine, which has successfully trialled a number of innovative block cave mining practices, makes an important contribution to Rio Tinto.

Mr Barry Lavin MD of Northparkes said, The project is a state of the art development incorporating our experience and know how from our previous two block cave projects. This investment represents a vote of confidence for Parkes. We are delighted that the JV partners are supportive of the project, which will sustain our economic contribution to the region for the next 10 years.

Gulf Times has reported that Saudi Arabian Al Tuwairqi is planning to build the first rail mill in the Middle East at Dammam at an ivestmnet of $250 million. The plant is likely to be opened in 2009.

Mr Sudarshan Singh Al Turwairqi spokesman told Gulf Times that there will never be a better time than now to think big in the Middle East. He said that a plan by the Saudi government to establish a railway link between the Red Sea through the UAE to the Arabian Sea is evidence that the future in the Gulf includes railway transportation.

Mr Singh said "There's a big necessity for a new rail network in the region. This is the right time or otherwise we will be too late. The region is booming, the money is available, and there is demand." He estimated that 4 million tons of rails will be required in the next 10 years to build the rail network in the region."

The SociTerritoriale Calonienne de Participations Industrielles announced that it is taking up a call option enabling it to acquire 421,474 shares of SociLe Nickel to raise its holding in SLN to 34%. The shares represent 4% of the capital and voting rights, following a shareholders agreement signed by Eramet SA and STCPI in September 2000.

The company in a statement said "The application of this decision will serve to further anchor SLN in New Caledonia. Eramet will examine with the STCPI the terms of the acquisition, which will take the form of an exchange of shares of Eramet for shares of SLN."

The STCPI, whose shareholders are companies that represent each of the three provinces of New Caledonia, currently has a 30% shareholding in SLN and a 5.13% shareholding in Eramet.

SLN runs the worlds biggest ferronickel plant in New Caledonia which supplies 25% of the worlds nickel.

Italian stainless steel producer Cogne Acciai Speciali expects its turnover for 2006 to reach EUR 500 million an increase of 15.3%YoY. CAS' production is expected to reach 173,000 tonnes in 2006, the highest ever registered by the company, although it is not its maximum capacity.

Mr Roberto Marzorati deputy chairman of CAS told ANAS that the year 2006 was quite exceptional and several unprecedented circumstances took place during this year, such as an increase in the world consumption of all raw materials and, on the other hand, a considerable increase at worldwide level in the prices of basic components for the production of stainless steel, that is energy and nickel.

As per report CAS plans to invest some EUR 20 million in 2007 and 2008 to improve and update production processes and machinery.

The threat of anti-dumping complaints has extended to Chinese ferroalloy export, which comes after receiving anti dumping warnings from numerous countries regarding several different products. EU is rumored to initiate AD investigation targeting at Chinese FeSi import soon, following Chinese SiMn alloy trapped in the suits.

FeSi plays a dominant role in the country's ferroalloy export due to its abundant reserve in northwest China. The recent imposition of 10% provisional export tax on ferroalloy exports has taken domestic ferroalloy producers by surprise in addition to continues lackluster sales in previous months. The fear of likely AD case would add more uncertainty to China's FeSi market in days to come.

Shortly before, overseas media report that EU steel mills are likely to file anti dumping complaints against Chinese hot rolled coil, which has soared 250% in the first nine months, representing a third of EU's total HRC imports.

Hopefully, Chinese mills could bet their hope on successful dialogues for resolving the trade dispute just as in the case of Chinese wire rod exports to South Korea.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)

NEMI Northern Energy & Mining Inc announced that it has successfully closed the asset combination transaction among NEMI, Hillsborough Resources Limited and Anglo Coal Canada Inc. The Transaction formed the basis for NEMI's CCAA Plan of Arrangement which was approved by the British Columbia Supreme Court on November 23rd 2006. The Transaction results in the creation of the Peace River Coal Limited Partnership which is owned as to 20% by each of NEMI and Hillsborough, and 60% by Anglo Coal.

NEMI has also received approximately $63 million in payments directly and on its behalf and a further $18 million in future consideration. In addition, the DIP Loan provided by Anglo Coal during CCAA proceedings is being assumed by Peace River Coal. All of NEMI's creditors, secured and unsecured, have been paid in full.

Following the closing of the Transaction, NEMI filed with the British Columbia Supreme Court a closing certificate certifying that all conditions and requirements of the Plan have been satisfied and that the Plan Implementation Date has occurred. The filing of the Closing Certificate resulted in NEMI's full emergence from CCAA protection, and provided a seamless transition of NEMI's existing business operations to Peace River Coal.

Mr Patrick C Devlin president of NEMI said "The creation of Peace River Coal marks the beginning of a new relationship among NEMI, Hillsborough and Anglo Coal, and ensures the viability of British Columbia's Northeast coalfields. Anglo Coal, with its extensive experience in coal mining and marketing, will play a key role in further developing the area."

Interfax has reported that Ukraine's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill that would lift the ban on exports of alloyed metal scrap.

The bill, governing export duties on scrap alloyed ferrous metals, scrap nonferrous metals and semi manufacturers that use them, proposes to lift the ban on exports of these products and impose an export duty on them of EUR 30 per tonne in the first year that the bill is in effect. The duty would be gradually reduced to EUR 15 per tonne over five years. The new duties would be introduced when Ukraine joins the World Trade Organization.

For five years after the law goes into effect, exports of these goods will be permitted only by specialized metals processing enterprises at which these products were made. An export certificate of quality will be required. These enterprises must have quality management systems that comply with the ISO 900-2001 standard or another certificate of quality. Exports of these goods on a tolling basis will be possible on the condition that the export duty be prepaid into the treasury in cash.