Business Line has reported that Indias coal ministry has earmarked 10 coal blocks to be allocated to central and state undertakings through government dispensation route.

These blocks, with coal reserves of 6,072.15 million tones, are situated in north Karanpura, Rajmahal Gr, Ib Valley and Talcher coal fields. According to the report, some of these coal blocks are not explored in detail and only regional prospecting has been done.

PTI has reported that 7 persons were killed when a dump caved in at an iron ore mine at Collem in Goa. The incident occurred this afternoon at a private mine when the laborers were working below the dump which gave way.

As per report, Military Training Regiment personnel are at the private mines site, for rescue operations and one body has been retrieved from the site while the remaining six bodies could not be recovered by the police, fire and emergency services. Rescue operation are undergoing to retrieve the remaining trapped bodies from the site

Dr Dasari Narayan Rao minister of state for coal informed Lok Sabha that government is looking for competitive bidding system for allocation of coal mining blocks for captive use as the selection process by amending the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 1957.

Dr Rao told that the Investment Commission had recommended adoption of NELP model for private sector participation in coal mining by offering good quality coal blocks for bids and as against the recommendation of the Commission, ministry of coal has taken the stand that parameters of allocation of blocks through contemplated competitive bidding would not be too dissimilar from that of NELP

Dr Rao further said that the other recommendations of the Commission and views of the Government are as given under

1. Carve out specified viable mining blocks from Coal India Ltd for captive exploitation.
2. Encourage the subsidiaries of CIL to induct strategic partners from leading mining companies, who could develop existing blocks on production share basis.
3. An exercise was carried out and 48 blocks with geological reserves of about 9.22 billion tones were de reserved from the list of blocks earmarked for Coal India Ltd. for allocation to captive approved end users.
4. Coal companies are also exploring innovative approaches and practices such as outsourcing of mining equipments and services from reputed mining firms on risk and gain sharing basis, development of dedicated mines for bigger clients etc.
5. Offer all mines that have been closed by CIL to the private sector, in case there are viable recoverable reserves. CIL and its subsidiary companies are exploring the possibility of working out such arrangements.
6. Fixed royalty payment per tonne extracted, as currently notified, to be offset against upfront bid amount. In the proposal under consideration, it is not contemplated to offset royalty dues against the bid amount. Royalty is a statutory levy, and that could continue to accrue to the State Governments, based on the quantum of coal extracted. This is a major and stable source of income for the State Governments and this need not be subjected to any uncertainties. Institue a "use or lose"
7. Policy for all blocks, to prevent hoarding and ensure best competitive use. Conditions to the effect are stipulated while allocating captive coal blocks.
8. Specified mile stones are laid down for completion of various activities relating to development of coal blocks as well as the associated end use projects. If no progress is made by the captive coal blocks developers the allocation of coal blocks as well as mining lease are liable to be cancelled.
9. A system of Bank Guarantee has also been subsequently, introduced. Permit 50% FDI under the automatic route. Government has already approved 100% FDI in captive mining of Coal for all the approved end uses.
10. Permit merchant sale of coal by coal mines A bill stands introduced to amend the Coal Mines Act to provide for commercial mining by private sector

Neyveli Lignite Corp Ltd is reported to be looking to widen the input base for its upcoming power plants by partnering Coal India Ltd in a hunt for coalfields overseas.

Mr S Jayaraman CMD of Neyveli Lignite told Reuters "We have already spoken to Coal India about being part of overseas joint ventures for coal mining and it also has received approval from the government to buy coal blocks abroad, but it was not currently considering the option due to high costs.

NLC is seeking imported coal as a resource option given limited domestic supplies of lignite and delays in access to coal blocks in India.

Pardip port trust has reported that it handled 24.48 million tones of cargo during April to November 2006-2007 up by 13%, as against 21.64 million tonnes handled YoY.

Mr K Raghuramaiah chairman of the Paradip Port Trust said that November was particularly good for the Port when it achieved a cargo throughput of 3.79 million tonnes as against 2.63 million tonnes in November 2005 thus posting a growth of over 44%. He said "Never before in the history of Paradip Port has such a big jump been achieved in a single month."

The coastal shipments of thermal coal, exports of iron ore, and imports of coking coal and fertilizer raw materials were particularly impressive. However, between April and November 2006-07, the thermal coal throughput at 7.88 million tonnes was less than the 8.32 million tonnes achieved during the same period of 2005-06.

Iron ore export traffic in April to November months of the current fiscal was 7.67 million tonnes and in November alone it was 1.07 million tonnes. Coking coal imports were 2.81 million tones in April to November, while in November alone, they were 0.44 million tonnes.

Mr KH Muniyappa minister of state for shipping, road transport informed in the Lok Sabha that 93.3 % of Golden Quadrilateral has been completed on October 31st 2006.

He admitted that there have been some delays in some contracts due to problems associated with acquisition of land, shifting of utilities, forest and environment clearances and poor performance of some contractors etc.

Mr Muniyappa informed that the steps taken for early completion of the projects include

1. The Contracts are regularly monitored at various levels such as by Supervision Consultant, Project Directors, and Senior officers of NHAI. Progress reviews are also held at the level of Chairman, NHAI, Secretary, Department of Road Transport & Highways and Minister, Shipping Road Transport & Highways.

2. State Governments have appointed senior officers as nodal officers for resolving problems associated with implementation of the NHDP such as land acquisition, removal of utilities, forest / pollution / environment clearances etc. These nodal officers hold periodic meetings to review the projects and take action to resolve the problems.

3. A Committee of Secretaries has been constituted under Cabinet Secretary to address inter ministerial and Centre State issues such as land acquisition, utility shifting, environment approvals, clearance of ROBs

4. The procedure of issue of Land Acquisition notifications has now been simplified. Earlier all the notifications under NH Act were vetted by the Ministry of Law. Recently, an amendment has been made in the Allocation of Business Rules by which these notifications are not required to be sent to the Ministry of Law. The Ministry of Law has approved the standard formats of various notifications keeping in view the similar nature of the notifications of Land Acquisition.
5. To expedite the construction of ROBs an officer of the Railways has been posted to NHAI to coordinate with Ministry of Railways. MOU has also been signed with M/s. IRCON for construction of some of the ROBs.

6. Action has been taken against non performing contractors and they are not allowed to bid for future projects unless they improve the performance in existing contracts.

7. Steps have been taken to improve cash flow problems of contractors by granting interest bearing discretionary advance at the request of contractor, release of retention money against bank guarantee of equal amount, deferment of recovery of advances on interest basis and relaxation in minimum IPC amount.

Brazilian media has reported that Companhia Siderurgica Nacional has secured loans of $9 billion from a group of banks to fund its proposed acquisition of Corus.

Reports from the Brazilian media said that Goldman Sachs & two more banks have agreed to lend $7 billion for the acquisition and UBS & Citigroup will help CSN raise at least part of the remaining $ 2 billion through bond sales and lend the rest.

The media reports however mention that a CSN spokesperson declined to comment.

CSN had earlier announced that it would finance the proposed acquisition through a combination of existing financial resources and debt facility to be underwritten by a syndicate including Barclays Bank, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas.

WCI Steel Inc is planning to boost revenues by 70% to $1.5 billion by 2010 partly through acquisitions. Mr Patrick Tatom president & CEO of WCI during the Goldman Sachs Global CEO Forum Webcast said Well look at external transactions, both producers and value added service providers, as part of the growth.

Mr Tatom did not specify any potential acquisition targets except that it probably wouldnt look upstream to producers of raw materials used to make steel because the company is fairly comfortable there. He said that the company could look laterally or downstream at businesses that add value to steel products. He did not rule out acquiring a service center.

WCI emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 1st 2006. With one blast furnace capable of producing 4,000 tons a day and 1.27 million tons of shipped steel, WCI holds just 1% of the US crude steel production.

Mr John prime minister of Australia announced a task force comprising of 12 people from industry and government to investigate the role Australia might play in any global emissions trading system.

Mr Howard said that finding a practical solution to climate change must not erode Australia's natural advantage from abundant coal gas and uranium reserves. He said "I don't want recommendations and we don't do things that are going to hurt this country's economy. Its sole remit will be to tell us what the shape of a global emissions trading system might take. It will be looked at against the background of preserving the natural advantages Australia has in areas like fossil fuels and uranium."

The task force will be chaired by Mr Peter Shergold the head of the department of PM and cabinet. The other members include Mr Peter Coates from Xstrata, Mr Chris Lynch from BHP Billiton Mr David Borthwick head of the environment department. The task force will meet this month and report by the end of May next year.

Analysts are zeroing in on Nucor Corp as the potential suitor for Harris Steel Group Inc, which announce that it is likely to be finalize an agreement for being taken over but has kept the name of its suitor under wraps. Other names being thrown into the mix as potential buyers for Harris include Gerdau Ameristeel Corp and Commercial Metals Company.

Harris, whose products include rebar for the construction industry and wire mesh for the mining industry, was billed by analysts as an ideal fit with Nucor because the two already have a partnership. Nucor paid $21 million to acquire a 50% stake in Harris's US reinforcing steel products operations in 2004.

Ms Sara Elford an analyst at Canaccord Adams wrote in a note that "As for potential buyers, Nucor immediately comes to mind, given that it and Harris Rebar already have a 50:50 JV in the US market and the fact that this market is expected to be a key driver of Harris's long term growth.

Mr Raymond James of Frederic Bastien also pegged Nucor as the obvious bidder but did not rule out other key players in the US rebar market. He wrote "Two other likely suitors are Gerdau Ameristeel and Commercial Metals, both of which lead the US rebar fabrication market especially in the Midwest and Southern US.

It is reported that Steel Dynamics Inc is investing $14.1 million to upgrade a plant at Continental in Ohio after the state offered a tax credit of $52,886 over seven years. The plant manufactures joists and is operated by one of Steel Dynamics subsidiaries, New Millennium Building Systems.

According to a statement from the Ohio Department of Development, New Millenniums investment will retain 93 positions and create 25 jobs within the next three years. New Millennium accepted the states offer informally.

Mr Art Ullom GM for the plants in Butler and Continental said that when the state of Ohio offered a job creation tax credit Monday, New Millennium decided to keep the plant in Continental also.

New Millennium also operates a plant in Butler that also manufactures joists. Because the Continental and Butler plants produce the same thing, the company had considered consolidating those operations at the Butler location.

Celsa UK has opened a new 80 million state of the art steel melt shop on the site of the former Allied Steel and Wire steelworks at Tremorfa in Cardiff in UK. This will enable Celsa UK to increase production of its steel products by around 340,000 tonnes a year.'

Mr Rhodri Morgan first minister said Mr Morgan said This is a red letter day for the Welsh steel industry. This new melt shop represents a massive vote of confidence by the company in its Cardiff steel making and re rolling complex and its workforce.

ASW's Cardiff plant went bust in 2002 and Celsa bought ASW the next year. It has been manufacturing steel using an existing arc furnace, which will now be phased out of use.

Interfax has reported that the Ukrainian steel mills run by Industrial Union of Donbass have increased output of rolled steel products in the first 11 months of 2006.

IUD's Alchevsk mill in the Luhansk region increased its finished roll output tentatively by 13.9% YoY to 2.99 million tonnes. Its crude steel production rose by 0.2% YoY to 3.399 million tonnes, pig iron by 1.9% YoY to 2.715 million tonnes and sinter by 4.5% YoY to 4.652 million tonnes.

IUD's Dniprovsky mill in the Dnipropetrovsk region increased its finished roll output by 9.5% YoY to 2.876 million tonnes. Its production of crude steel grew by 13% YoY to 3.302 million tonnes, pig iron by 12% YoY to 2.924 million tonnes and sinters by 10% YoY to 4.924 million tonnes.

IUD, established in 1995, owns or manages shareholdings in mining and metals enterprises. Its assets in Ukraine include the Alchevsk and Dniprovsky steel mills. IUD also controls Hungary's Dunaferr and DAM Steel and Poland's Huta Czestochowa.

It is reported that Russian steel trader, the Safin Group, intends to expand its stockpiling business in the Middle East by opening new warehouses in the region. Safin will start its steel stockpiling business in Sharjah in H1 2007.

Safin also aims to expand its operations in Eastern Europe.

SinoCast reported that China has discovered a number of rich iron ore reserves in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Tibet in recent years. The newly found iron ore resource is a breakthrough of China's iron ore perambulation and is expected to relieve the shortage of China iron ore.

Mr Zhang Hongtao deputy director general of China geological survey said that through survey and evaluation of mineral resource, the proved reserves of iron ore is 763 million tonnes.

Australias Union Resources announced that it has received a letter from the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization informing it all its agreements to develop the Medhiabad zinc project has been terminated. The letter from IMIDRO cites non performance by Union Resources as a reason for the termination of the contracts.

Union Resources hotly contests the allegations and said that it is now taking urgent steps to clarify and resolve the situation and ascertain the impact of the letter on Unions investment in the project. The company said it has written to Irans Minister of Mines asking for an urgent meeting to address the issues raised by the letter.

The Medhiabad project is potentially huge, a feasibility study suggesting annual metal production of around 320,000 tonnes. Union Resources has a direct 25% interest in the local operating company Mehdiabad Zinc Company and via convertible loans a 40% beneficial interest.

JPMorgan Chase and Co has bought a 5% stake in Melbourne based Lafayette Mining Ltd. A total of 45 million shares were bought by JPMorgan Asset Management in the UK and JF Asset Management in Singapore.

Lafayette owns polymetallic Rapu Rapu mine in the Philippines was recently damaged by two typhoons Xangsane and Durian.

Korea Iron & Steel Association reported that steel consumption is expected to grow up 2.7% in 2007 from this year as a boom in such manufacturing sectors as cars and ships will likely drive up demand, an industry

As per report steel consumption is likely to reach 50.18 million tons next year

South Korea is home to the world's top three shipyards, including Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., and the world's seventh largest carmaker, Hyundai Motor Group.

Nucor Corporation recently announced that Mr Bernard LM Kasriel has been elected to the board of directors effective January 1, 2007. Mr. Kasriel formerly served as the vice chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Paris based Lafarge SA.

Mr Kasriel is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique engineering school in Paris and received his MBA from Harvard Business School and INSEAD business school. He joins the Nucor board with more than 35 years of industry experience.

Mr Dan DiMicco chairman, president and CEO of Nucor said "Bernard's international manufacturing experience will be a great asset to the board of directors and the company. We are pleased to welcome him to our team."

The board of directors of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant in Sverdlovsk region of Russia decided at a meeting last week to acquire over 1,192,665 of the company's common shares, amounting to 4.9% of charter capital. The acquisition price for one common share, with a par value of 20 rubles, is 900 rubles. The shares will be bought from January 22 to April 20 2007.

PNTZis a member of the CHTPZ Group, which also includes Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant, Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant, Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, pipeline bend producer ZAO ChTPZ-Integrated Pipe Systems, metal traders MeTriS and Tirus and scrap recycler ZAO ChTPZ-Meta. Arkley Capital Sarl manages the ChTPZ Group's assets.

Angus & Ross PLC reported that it has found new resources at its Black Angel Zinc project in West Greenland with the drilling program around the mine establishing at least 1.995 million tonnes of additional minerals.

Angus is also considering a number of options for re opening the mine after the positive drilling results and that it now seems likely that the company's original mining plan to develop the project could be viable, subject to the availability of funds.

Mr Robin Andrews chairman of Angus said 'With new geological ideas and an expanded drill program being prepared for next year we expect our existing resource base to increase in both size and resource classification.'

Western Areas of Australia announced it has delivered its first 500 tonnes parcel of high grade nickel ore from the Flying Fox mine in Western Australia.

The mine has begun producing on schedule with further ramp up due to take place over the coming months. This first shipment was in the form of development-stage ore with the main ore body due to start producing in February. At full capacity, Flying Fox will produce around 12,000 tonnes per year of nickel in ore.

The ore goes to LionOres Lake Johnston treatment plant for tolling. This is an interim arrangement prior to construction of a dedicated nickel concentrator at Cosmic Bay.

China's second biggest coal group by revenue, China Coal Energy Co, expects coal prices to remain high, driven by strong domestic demand.

Mr Jing Tianliang chairman of Coal Energy Co told reporters via video while on the marketing road show for his firm's IPO that "China is the world's top coal producer and consumer, with the continuing growth in the domestic economy, coal prices will remain stable at a high level.

China Coal is looking to raise up to $1.7 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering in order to raise funds for expansion in a country where coal accounted for 69.6% of energy consumption in 2005.

China is the world's largest coal user, accounting for 36.9% of global consumption, according to BP Statistical Review 2006. The Chinese government estimates that domestic demand for coal will increase to 2.5 billion tonnes by 2010, from 2.14 billion tonnes in 2005.

Citigroup, one of China Coal's underwriters, forecast that thermal coal prices will peak in 2007 because of easing domestic supply side constraints, increased investment in the coal sector, reduced exports and an appreciating yuan currency. Citigroup, predicting a decline in prices in 2008 said "The key driver for the company should be volume growth and not pricing power.

Reuter has reported that Chinas state owned China Metallurgical Group Corp announced its plans to raise development funds via an initial public offering and that 5 directors were appointed by the company to its board of directors to prepare for a future listing. The company is yet to recruit advisors to help with the listing plan.

Mr Wang Yongguang VP of MCC told Reuters "In the future, we have a plan to list as our businesses at home and abroad develop and create the need for fund raising. Mr Wang refused to comment on the timing or location of MMCs listing.

This move supports Beijings push for big state owned firms to incorporate and list assets on the stock market. Many leading Chinese companies have already listed or plan to list on the mainland, Hong Kong or overseas.