It is reported that members of pro POSCO faction have demanded police protection from anti POSCO faction in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa claiming that the people opposing the project is attacking them and making their life miserable.

Pro POSCO faction charged that anybody speaking in favor of the project was being subjected to humiliation and intimidation by those opposing the project and that several families had been ostracized for having favored the proposed project.

On the other hand, anti POSCO faction has criticized the temporary appointment of 232 survey assistants cum volunteers by a consultancy firm. They also alleged that some anti socials are being pressed by into service to bulldoze and frighten villagers opposing the project and questioned that who is spending the money and who are these people.

While some of the locals support the project, majority of people of six villages, which are to be acquired for setting up the steel plant, are opposed to it claiming it will not only displace them but also ruin their betel leaf farming.

Dr Akhilesh Das minister of state in the ministry of steel informed the Rajya Sabha that as per the national steel policy entrepreneurs in the country are free to set up steel plants and downstream units of the capacities of their choice based on their commercial judgments. In a free market economy, Government acts only as a facilitator.

Dr Das informed that Indian Government has taken several steps to increase the production of steel such as modernization and expansion of public sector steel plants and adoption of various policy measures to encourage creation of additional steel production capacity in the private sector. He added that various companies are on the look out for strategic alliances for ensuring raw material supplies, according to their corporate strategies.

Dr Akhilesh said a that a committee under the chairmanship of director finance of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited has submitted a report for securing coking coal supplies for SAIL & RINL and that the boards of these companies are yet to take a view on the proposal contained in the report. He said that if Government approvals are required, these would be formally processed after the companies take a view on the recommendation of the Committee.

ET has reported that Indian government may reduce import duty for some of the inputs like scrap, SS scarp and ferroalloys etc. The duty cut, if implemented, would also help Indian steel makers to reduce their cost to some extant.

The report cites as a government source as saying that The finance ministry is considering a proposal of steel ministry to reduce customs duty on iron ore, scrap, ferronickel and non coking coal for steel making in the next budget.

As per the report, the finance ministry has already indicated its support to the proposal and is weighing revenue implications and the probability of a duty reduction.

However, the steel ministry has favored continuation of 5% duty on steel imports so as to put a check on dumping of steel from China.

Indian Railways have generated INR 26502.45 crore of revenue earnings from freight traffic during the first eight months of the current financial year ending November 2006 as compared to INR 22615.53 crore during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 17.19% YoY. Indian Railways carried 464.39 million tonnes of freight traffic during April to November 2006 as compared to 421.95 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 10.06% YoY.

The earnings from freight traffic during the month of November 2006 was INR 3607.85 crore as compared to INR 2928.41 crore during November 2005 registering an increase of 23.20% YoY. Indian Railways carried 61.06 million tonnes of freight traffic during the month as compared to 55.03 million tonnes of freight traffic during November 2005 registering an increase of 10.96%.

Of the total earnings during the month of November 2006, INR 1354.02 crore came from transportation of 26.05 million tonnes of coal, followed by INR 323.59 crore from 6.12 million tonnes of cement, INR 255.71 crore from 2.92 million tonnes of petroleum oil and lubricant, INR 256.38 crore from 3.61 million tonnes iron ore for exports, INR 255.49 crore from 3.14 million tonnes of food grains, INR 222.95 crore from 3.49 million tonnes of fertilizers, INR 183.56 crore from 1.70 million tonnes of iron & steel for steel plants, INR 175.88 crore from 4.40 million tonnes of raw material for steel plants and INR 580.27 crore from 9.63 million tonnes of other goods.

Uttam Galva Steels Ltd has plans to increase its production capacity of cold rolled and galvanized steel to meet growing global demand. Its also planning to triple is auto grade cold rolled capacity.

Mr Ankit Miglani director commercial of UGSL said that to facilitate this expansion, one of the cold rolling plants and galvanizing line has been shut down during the quarter October to December 2006. He said "The plants have been shut down in order to facilitate our capacity expansion and plant modification plans. Once completed, the increased capacity will help us meet the growing global and domestic demand. It will further help boost our visibility and share in the domestic market.

Mr Ankit Miglani added that this will have an impact on production and UGSL's output of cold rolled and galvanized steel will come down by 20 to 25 % during this quarter.

Mr TR Baalu minister of shipping road transport and highways outlined the existing cargo handling capacity of the major ports as on March 31st 2006 to the Rajya Sabha.

In million tonnes

Mr Baalu informed that ports are generally equipped to deal with loading and unloading of goods keeping in view the cargo profile a port is handling.

Mr Baalu added that the improvement of the infrastructure of major ports in terms of loading and unloading of goods and other facilities in the country is an ongoing process and under the National Maritime Development Program a total number of 276 projects in the major ports involving development of berths, deepening of channels, equipment up gradation and modernization, rail and road connectivity and other associated projects are planned to be implemented by 2011-12.

Mr R Velu union minister of state for Railways informed the Lok Sabha that the work of setting up of new coach factory at Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, at a cost of INR.1685 crore, has been proposed in the Supplementary Demands for Grants, December 2006.

Mr Velu said the proposed production capacity of this factory is 1000 coaches per year.

Brazilian steelmaker CSN officially withdrew its attempt to acquire Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corp, nearly a month after Wheeling-Pitt shareholders voted in directors favoring a tie up with Chicago's Esmark Inc. CSN announced the move in a regulatory filing in Brazil.

Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corporation confirmed CSN's announcement that it has terminated the merger agreement dated October 24th 2006, between CSN and Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corporation.

Mr James P. Bouchard chairman and CEO of Wheeling-Pittsburgh stated "Wheeling-Pittsburgh Corporation appreciates the hard work and interest showed by CSN to improve the prospects of Wheeling-Pitt. CSN will continue to be a valuable customer and supplier of Wheeling-Pitt in the near term, and we believe will also be an important commercial partner to us as we achieve our vision for the future."

Wheeling-Pittsburgh has slab making production capacity of 2.8 million short tons and hot rolling capacity of 3.4 million short tons. Approximately 65 percent of its sales are comprised of high value added products.

The American Iron and Steel Institute reported that for the month of October 2006, US steel mills shipped 8,725,000 net tons, a 1.3% decrease from the 8,839,000 net tons shipped in October 2005 and a 5.1% decrease from the 9,199,000 net tons shipped in the previous month of September 2006.

A YoY comparison of year to date shipments shows the following changes within major market segments
1. Service centers and distributors up by 4.2%
2. Automotive up by 10.2%
3. Construction and contractors products up by 12%
4. Oil and gas up by 11.5%
5. Machinery, industrial equipment and tools up by 6.4%
6. Appliances, utensils and cutlery down by 5%
7. Containers, packaging and shipping materials up by 2.8%
8. Electrical equipment up by 19.3%

Severstal announced that all the resolutions were duly passed at today's EGM including those in relation to the appointments to the board of directors. Following these appointments, Severstal will have a 10 member board with 5 executive and 5 independent non executive directors.

Executive directors
1. Mr Alexey Mordashov
2. Mr Mikhail Noskov
3. Mr Vadim Makhov
4. Mr Anatoliy Kruchinin
5. Mr Vadim Shvetsov

Independent Non Executive directors
1. Mr Chris Clark
2. Mr Martin Angle
3. Mr Rolf Stomberg
4. Mr Ron Freeman
5. Mr Dr Peter Kraljic

The new board of directors has elected Mr Chris Clark as the chairman of the board and also appointed chairmen and members of Audit and Remuneration committees.

Severstal said that these appointments are made as part of Severstals new corporate governance arrangements designed to comply with the key elements of the UKs corporate governance standards.

Platts has reported that Nippon Steel plans to start commercial operation of a new 30,000 tonnes per month galvanized steel line at its Hirohata works in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan on December 16th 2006.

NSC has upgraded several zinc coated steel sheet production lines this year and has added a new line on the back of firm auto steel demand. In June this year, it has restarted a 40,000 tonnes per month line at Kimitsu steel works near Tokyo after an upgrade and in September a 20,000 tonnes per month Nagoya plant in central Japan.

The sale of iron ore by Companhia do Vale do Rio Doce to China is expected to end 2006 with a 40% increase. Mr Roger Agnelli chairman of CVRD said We are growing on average 40 % in exports of iron ore to China as compared to last year, beating records every month.

Until September of 2006, iron ore and pellet sales reached 202.5 million tons. China bought 58.4 million tons or 28.8% of the total exported by CVRD in the period.

CVRDs sales of iron ore totaled 213.3 million tonnes in 2005, which generated gross revenues of BRL 16.7 billion. China bought 26.4% of the total, or around 56.5 million tons. Taking into account all products, gross revenues from exports last year totaled BRL 35.3 billion with 14.5% going to China.

For 2007, the companys chairman projected annual iron ore production of 300 million tons. Mr Angelli said that the growth of exports is expected to remain high and the challenge will be to maintain the rate of growth that the market demands. He said We are growing by 14% every year, which is the equivalent of a new gigantic mine per year.

It is reported that Swansea Crown Court fined Corus 1.3 million pounds over an explosion at one of its plants at Port Tablot in Wales in 2001 which killed three workers and injured a dozen others for breaching health and safety laws and also ordered it to pay costs of 1.744 million pounds over the accident.

Mr Justice Lloyd Jones was quoted by the Press Association news agency as saying that "What went wrong here is not the failure of the individual, but the management, in permitting such a situation to arise.

The prosecution followed a Health and Safety Executive investigation. The first criminal charge was that Corus did not ensure the safety of its employees, while the second charge held it did not ensure contractors were not exposed to risks to their safety.

Responding to the ruling Corus said it regretted the loss of life and the grievous injuries and that the fine was insignificant compared with the grief of the dead men's families. Mr Rauke Henstra board member said that During the hearing, Corus pleaded guilty in respect of our failings under the Health and Safety at Work Act. We have always maintained that an explosion of this type and magnitude that occurred was neither foreseen nor was it foreseeable and this has been accepted by the prosecution.

3 workers were killed and 1 injured by an explosion caused by water coming into contact with hot material in November 2001. The explosion destroyed blast furnace five, lifting it off its base and blasting out 200 tonnes of steel slag and hot gasses. Corus was charged with failing to ensure worker safety for both staff and contractors.

Engineering News Online has reported that a group of South African tube mills including Robor, Macsteel and Trident, has lodged an application to South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry, calling for a duty to be imposed on galvanized pipe imports after the market had been flooded by cheap Chinese imports.

Mr Alan Oswald financial director of Robor told Engineering News Online that DTI officials had conducted their first review of the matter in mid November and would be visiting China before the end of February 2006, after which DTI would decide what steps to take.

Mr Oswald said that the DTI would reach a decision on the issue by the end of the first half of 2007 and if successful, the complaint could see a 20% to 30% duty imposed on galvanized pipe imports.

BHP Billiton announced that it has suspended operations at its Cannington lead zinc mine in Queensland after a fatal accident. Company officials said it was too early to say when the mine would reopen.

The incident, in which a 19 year old man died, is currently being investigated by police.

Production last year at Cannington was 288,000 tonnes of contained lead and 61,000 tonnes of contained zinc.

Australian Financial Review has reported a consortium of Russian companies has targeted a take over of Australias Consolidated Minerals, which are a major manganese producer and an emerging nickel producer.

Australian Financial also said that the consortium is being headed by Mr Brian Gilbertson former head of BHP Billiton and now president of Russian aluminium group SUAL.

ConsMin has previously said it is in discussions with an unnamed party.

It is reported that various options are now being considered for the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills, which includes listing at the stock exchanges of the country.

Mr Jehangir Khan Tareen minister for industries and production of Pakistan during his visit to the mills said the government would privatize the entity in phases, which could include initial public offering of 10% shares. He said, The government will privatize the PS, but it is yet to be decided how it will be done.

He said the mills had faced loss of production during last year, but now the situation is normal. He added that Rs 4 to 5 billion would be spent on the improvement of its infrastructure so that it could be privatized at a better price. He said the PS had funds to finance the works and that it did not need any grant or loan.

The Board of Directors of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works has approved an additional share issue worth RUR1.45 billion ($55.22 million) with a face value of RUR1 ($0.038) per share. The issue will be floated through a public offering.

MMK statement said that as a result the share capital of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works will be enlarged by 13.64% to around RUR12.08 billion ($460 million).

MMK added that the offering price, including the price for those entitled to pre emption of the stock, will be set by the Board after the term of the pre emptive right to purchase the shares expires.

However, an official spokesman for MMK said that the approval of the additional issue did not shut out the possibility of an IPO.

Taiwan's China Steel Corps board has approved the A$16.54 million purchase of a 5% stake in Australia's Q Coal Pty Ltd Sonoma coal mine. CSC said that the investment would go towards development of the privately held coal mine.

The mine, which is located in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland, could yield a total of 47 million tonnes of coking and thermal coal. According to Q Coal the production will begin in 2007.

To reduce dependence on imported iron ore, China is increasing iron ore production but the low grades are not allowing it to take a stronger position in iron price negotiations. Chinese government has encouraged more domestic production as greater domestic supply will help them get a better bargain with the iron ore majors, but as China's iron ore output rises, its quality, measured is dropping fast.

Mr Huang Tianwen president of Sinosteel in a recent interview said "Most of China's iron ore is around 30% but there's some around 17% or 18%. I would say that the average is about 25%.

According to a report by Macquarie Research China's iron ore output rose by 38% during January to November 2006 to 522 million tonnes after 25% increase to 420 million tonnes in 2005. But the report said that the real growth in domestic iron ore production in meaningful terms is more like 20% and not 40%. Macquarie said that average recoverable iron content in Chinese ore has slipped to 28% from 30% in 2005.

According to the report China's iron ore imports are forecast to rise 19% to about 327 million tonnes in 2006 despite increase in domestic iron ore production as Chinese mills still choose to source iron ore with consistent higher quality from overseas suppliers.

Mr Dong Zhihong deputy director of the iron ore import committee at the China Iron and Steel Association said that strong domestic prices helped lift iron ore output by 44% in November 2006 to a record 59 million tonnes. However he added that most of the increase has been from small mines and that the bigger new mines are due to start up next year.

Small mines are concentrated in Liaoning, Hebei and Shanxi provinces in the north and in southwestern Sichuan province. Some produce ore with as low as 10% iron content. An analyst said that "A big volume of low-grade ore has come on in the last two years. Average quality was at 33% in 2000, then down to 32%, 31% and now it must be under 30%.

UK based MN Specialty Steels will invest EUR 114 million in modernization of Niksic Ironworks at Montenegro in Serbia as pledged during acquisition.

Mr Radomir Vukcevic director of MNSS said that This investment would enable annual production of steel to be increased to 600.000 tonnes, which would make Niksic Ironworks a profitable company and successful company, not only in the region, but also in Europe."

Mr Branko Vujovic director of Montenegrin Economy Restructuring Agency said "We are only a step away from this goal. In the next 15 days we expect to settle all outstanding issues related to the social program and collective agreement, thus paving the way for solving problems related to redundancies in an acceptable manner.

Mr Vujovic said that technological modernization and orientation to production of alloy steels are the basic preconditions for profitable operations of Niksic Ironworks. He added that company's management, labor union and employees were all responsible for creating necessary conditions for the new owner to take over the company and start complying with contracted investment, production and social obligations.

Interfax has reported that the shareholders in the Metalloinvest holding's Lebedinsky GOK and Oskol Electrometallurgical Combine have approved transactions to consolidate assets at extraordinary meetings on December 5. Metalloinvest's press office told Interfax that the transactions approved at the extraordinary meetings were worth $3.6 billion in total. It said "As a result of the transactions, LGOK and OEMK will acquire 99.01% of MGOK, and most of this is attributable to LGOK.

LGOK said in a press release that transactions by which LGOK buys shares in iron ore producer Mikhailovsky GOK in the Kursk region are worth a total of 70.38 billion rubles, including 16.63 billion rubles under a transaction with Ternhill Investments, 11.53 billion rubles with Parkeston Holdings, 2.82 billion rubles (preferred shares) and 5.46 billion rubles (common shares) with Leyland Investments, 6.77 billion rubles with Kilmory Services, 15.64 billion rubles with Garvald Investments and 11.53 billion rubles with Belford Holdings.

In addition, OEMK is acquiring 20% of MGOK by purchasing stakes in Gormetzoyuz, a limited liability company which lists the 20% of MGOK on its balance sheet, for a total of 17.08 billion rubles. OEMK is buying a stake in Gormetzoyuz from Kilmory Services for 3.2 billion rubles, and stakes from Garvald Investments, Belford Holdings, Leyland Investments, Parkeston Holdings and Ternhill Investments for 2.77 billion rubles each. OEMK on December 6 also signed a deal to buy a block of preferred shares ion MGOK from Leyland Investments for 7.82 billion rubles.

The shareholders also approved two agreements for loans to be issued to LGOK by MGOK and Metalloinvest's Urals Steel. Each of the companies may lend up to 21 billion rubles repayable in up to four years at not more than 8% annually.

It is reported that Xstrata has given its new Xstrata Nickel business, which emerged after the acquisition of Falconbridge, a license to grow.

Mr Ian Pearce CEO of Xstrata Nickel told Canadas Globe and Mail newspaper in his first interview since taking on the top job that "The key driver that we picked up from Xstrata is growth. That's a very nice mandate. They want us to grow the business.

Mr Pearce said that "The big thing about Xstrata is their ability to fund. That's the central part of what Xstrata does for us. If we are able to show a business case for an acquisition, a growth strategy or even for an initiative to improve the operations to make them more effective, they will support us in that.

Xstrata Nickel is currently the worlds 4th largest nickel miner with production of around 110,000 tonnes per year output.

ISNA has reported that Irans cold rolled steel production will assume its full capacity at the cost of 90 million dollars by Iranian year ending on March 20th 2007 and that the Pasargad Bank is in charge of financing.

ISNA quoted Mr Taqi Bahrami the head of Iran Steel Producers Association as saying that the decision is the result of talks done earlier between commerce and industries ministries and final formulation based on negotiations with private sectors steel producers at the end.

Mr Bahrami anticipates that Import of 500,000 tons of raw material could satisfy the current capacity for the next six months and should entail smooth production throughout the coming year. However, he added that only 30% of 5 million tonne production capability is in use at the moment.

TMK has announced that its Board of Directors has been awarded a special prize of the Independent Directors Associations Supervisory Board and management as part of the Director of the Year 2006 National Award.

As per the release, the jury praised its BODs contribution to the preparation and conducts of the IPO and conferred on it a prize of the Independent Directors Associations Supervisory Board and management.

Established in 2006, the Director of the Year National Award is aimed at improving corporate governance in Russia, implement best practices in line with international standards, and promote implementation of board of director best practices. The award was established jointly by the Independent Directors Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers with support from VympelCom.

Australian nickel miner Mincor has announced that it spent A$2.5million on the Carnilya Hill resource in Western Australia to earn a 70% stake. The agreement with junior View Resources set a 3 years period for the earn in, but the investment was made in just nine months. The two companies will now operate as a formal JV.

Mincor said that it has already had exploration success at the project and is launching a pre feasibility study on reactivating the mine. A resource estimate will be released by March of next year and a go ahead decision made before the end of June next year.

View operated Carnilya Hill in 2004 and 2005 for cumulative production of just over 2,000t of contained nickel.