December, 09 2006
CPI leads a rally against POSCOs steel plant
It is reported that about three thousand people protesters including women and children gathered at Balitutha villages in the district of Jagatsinghpur of Orissa and took part in a rally against POSCOs proposed steel plant in the state of Orissa due to their concern of displacement by the project.
The rally was organized by the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samittee and was addressed by several leaders of the Communist Party of India. Mr AB Bardhan general secretary of CPI charged that the project will cause the state heavy revenue losses and life, property, livelihood & environment will be destroyed by the proposed plant. He said Even the mineral wealth including iron ore will vanish within a few years and the state will be ruined.
POSCO had signed the deal with Orissa government in June 2005 for setting up a 12 million tonne plant at Paradip but has not been able to make any significant progress on the project due to local opposition. People from the area are opposing the project as they say it will not only displace them but also ruin their betel leaf farming.
CoS submits report on iron ore policy
It is reported that the Committee of Secretaries formed for considering the matter of restricting iron ore exports has submitted its report to the Government. According to reports, CoS dealt with several issues related to sintering and mining development but has not made any specific recommendation regarding continuation or non continuation of exports.
The ministry of steel has expressed its views of restricting exports with a view to conserving resources to build up the domestic steel industry. Ministry of Steel has suggested to Ministry of Commerce, some amendments in the iron ore export policy, with a view to conserve resources to build up the domestic steel industry, in August, 2006.
Views of the ministry of mines and the ministry of commerce have also been incorporated into the report.
The difference in opinion between the steel makers and iron ore mining companies led to the setting up this high level committee by the Prime Minister.
Raw material scenario for Indian steel makers
Dr Akhilesh Das minister of state of steel informed Rajya Sabha the secenrio for the two major raw material resources for making steel iron ore and coking coal.
Dr Das said that as far as the availability of iron ore to the domestic steel industry is concerned, presently steel makers are not facing significant immediate problems with regard to availability of iron ore, however, in the long run the iron ore availability to domestic steel industries is likely to suffer due to export of iron ore.
Dr Das also said that presently more than 80% of coking coal requirement is met through imports due to non availability of quality coking coal indigenously and various companies are on the look out for strategic alliances for ensuring raw material supplies according to their corporate strategies.
Kandla Port increase traffic in November
Exim news service reported that Kandla Port has registered a growth of 26% in November. Kandla Port registered handling close to 4.8 million tonnes in November an increase of 1 million tonnes over November 2005.
This was largely aided by an increase in dry cargo handling. The record breaking feat was achieved due to some impressive performances in Novembers handling of coking coal 527%, wheat 308%, oil extractions 64%, fertilizer 46%, iron and steel 30%, fertilizer raw material 10% and ores 7% as compared to November 2005.
Kandla Port has achieved a growth of 12% by handling 33.36 million tonnes of handling during April to November 2006-07, with significant contributions coming from commodities like fertilizers, foodgrains, ores, sugar, oil extractions, crude oil, POL and other liquids.
PGCIL plans transmission grid to Sri Lanka
It is reported Power Grid Corporation Limited has conducted a feasibility study on setting up a power evacuation system connecting Madurai in Tamil Nadu of India with Anuradhapura in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is likely that an agreement to set up a power transmission line between India and Sri Lanka will be finalized and signed by early next year.
As per reports further consultations for the Rs 1,500 to 2,000 crore project are underway between the two governments through a taskforce comprising members from both the countries to take the plans forward. The taskforce comprising of representatives of the Indias ministry of power, Central Electricity Authority and PGCIL and their Sri Lankan counterparts will study the feasibility report prepared by PowerGrid.
Adani plans to set up shipping company Report
ET has reported that Adani group is planning to own a fleet of ships and set up its own shipping company. An executive of Adani group told ET that they are planning to buy two or three bulk cargo Panamax ships.
Adani group is already in the process of setting up a shipbuilding and repair yard in Mundra and as it would take some time before the project goes on stream, it wants to buy ships for the shipping company.
As per report, Adani is planning to raise $250 million through a foreign currency convertible bond issue to fund this project as well as to acquire coal mines abroad and fund its overseas trading business.
Timken completes sale of Latrobe Steel
The Timken Company announced that it completed the sale of its Latrobe Steel subsidiary in Latrobe Penselvenyia to a group of investors led by the Watermill Group, Hicks Holdings and Sankaty Advisors. Timken received approximately $215 million in cash, providing resources for general corporate purposes including strategic growth initiatives and pension funding.
Latrobe Steel is a producer and distributor of high quality, vacuum remelted specialty steels and alloys. Latrobe Steel offers a comprehensive line of high speed steels, tool and die steels, and high-strength aerospace related specialty steels and alloys for technical niche applications. Through its two primary business units, Latrobe Steel Manufacturing and Latrobe Steel Distribution, the company produces and distributes more than 300 grades of specialty steels for use in aerospace applications, high-performance cutting tools, aluminum casting dies, extrusion and thread roll dies and other demanding applications.
Timken purchased Latrobe Steel in 1975 to have direct access to its coil making capacity to support the company's bearing manufacturing. In recent years, Timken's declining demand for internally manufactured roller wire has decreased Latrobe Steel's synergy with the company's bearing business.
Mr James W Griffith president and CEO of Timken said "We are taking actions across our portfolio to increase the ability to generate consistent profitable growth. We believe the divestment of Latrobe Steel will create new opportunities for us to invest in key industrial markets that have the potential to generate greater value for our shareholders over time."
Reliance Steel & Aluminum to acquire Industrial Metals & Athens Steel
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co recently announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Industrial Metals and Surplus Inc, a metals service center company headquartered at Atlanta in Georgia, and a related company Athens Steel Inc located at Athens in Georgia.
The management teams of Industrial Metals and Athens Steel are expected to remain in place. The transaction is expected to be finalized within 30 days. Terms were not disclosed.
Industrial Metals was founded in 1978 and specializes in the processing and distribution of carbon steel structural, flat rolled and ornamental iron products. Industrial Metals net sales for the 2005 fiscal year were approximately $72 million.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co is one of the largest metals service center companies in the United States with a network of more than 160 locations in 37 states and Belgium, Canada, China and South Korea. It provides value added metals processing services and distributes a full line of over 90,000 metal products including galvanized, hot rolled, stainless steel, aluminum, rass, copper, titanium and alloy steels.
SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH to acquire A Finkl & Sons Co in US
A Finkl & Sons Co announced that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH AG headquartered at Dusseldorf in Germany and that with the acquisition of Finkl, SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH will become the world's largest tool steel producer. The acquisition is expected to close in early 2007, with construction of a new integrated steel works commencing shortly thereafter once the site selection is finalized.
Finkl is North America's premier producer and global distributor of hot work die steels, plastic mold steels and custom open die forgings. As per release Finkl has outgrown its present location and sought a partner with the same commitment to excellence to make the necessary investments in construction of a new plant.
The decision on where to relocate will be made in consultation with existing management and the new owners. The new facility will more than double the company's manufacturing capacity, which is required to support its existing product lines and allow for expansion into new markets and the global marketplace. A new plant will allow for contiguous sequential operations in melting, forging, heat-treatment and machining. Those operations are currently disconnected at Finkl's Clybourn Corridor plant.
Mr Joe Curci president of A Finkl & Sons said "Finkl has been a Chicago company since it was founded in 1879 by Bavarian immigrant Anton Finkl. With the help of the City of Chicago and our skilled workforce, we have been able to remain in Chicago and grow our business over the past two decades. Over that time, our sales have grown from $40 million to more than $260 million this year. Our strong preference is to remain in Chicago, and we look forward to working with the City and the State of Illinois in exploring the potential of a new plant on the South Side.
SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH has consolidated sales of approximately EUR 3.5 billion ($4.7 billion) and 10,000 employees. The company is the world's largest producer of stainless long products with a global distribution network on all continents
Vietnam imposes 10% duty on coal exports
VietNams ministry of finance has released Decision 67 announcing the new tax rates on several export items. Accordingly, the export tax on coal will be raised to 10% from 0%.
The tax rates on many other minerals, including iron ore and fine iron ore, will be raised to 5-10% instead of the current levels of 0%. Other ores including lead ore, fine lead ore, zinc ore and fine zinc ore will also see the same increases in tax. Meanwhile, only several kinds of scrap steel and iron will see their tax rates decrease from 35% to 33%.
Strong coal export growth has raised concerns among industry experts who want to make sure new demand at home from a number of coal fired power plants soon in operation will be met.
Vietnams January to November 2006 coal exports jumped 67.9% YoY to 26.7 million tonnes. Vietnam shipped nearly 18 million tonnes of coal in 2005 mainly to China and Japan. Under the coal export plan for 2006-2010 Vietnam will have to gradually reduce coal exports and the export volume will not exceed 11 million tonnes in 2006 and 2007, and 10 million tonnes in 2008. Vietnam will only export 8 million tonnes of coal per year by 2010.
Mr Clyde Henderson an analyst at US coal and energy forecaster Hill and Associates told Reuters It could have some kind of impact because most of Vietnamese coal exports are anthracite, very high grade coal, and most of it goes to China. Mr Henderson said the higher duty would not have a significant impact on coal trade internationally but would definitely affect Vietnams trade with China, its giant northern neighbor.
Rasselstein to upgrade CR mill
ThyssenKrupp Steels sunsidairy Rasselstein GmbH has awarded Siemenss I&S for upgrading mechanical and electrical equipment of the 5 stand Tandem Cold Mill No 1 at R Andernach in Germany to improve the flatness of the strip which is important for the final quality of the finished products. Project completion is scheduled for early 2007.
The order comprises the installation of equipment and systems for the fifth mill stand, the mill exit section and the strip cooling system. Mill stand installations comprise a new entry strip press, a multi zone cooling system, a flatness control system, a strip blow off system to remove the coolant from the strip surface as well as a pass line adjustment system to keep the roller gap at exactly the same level. The scope of supply also includes the associated electrical and automation systems. The cooling water systems will be upgraded with new pumps and drives.
The new flatness control system receives its data from a shapemeter roll. By means of a mathematical optimization procedure the flatness control calculates optimal set-points for tilting, bending and multi-zone cooling. At the mill exit section a second shapemeter roll will be installed in addition to a new tension reel.
The 5 stand Tandem Cold Mill No 1 processes strips with thicknesses ranging from 0.1 mm to 1.2 mm and serves primarily to produce tinplate less than 0.2 mm thick.
Rasselstein GmbH is the only tinplate manufacturer in Germany and ranks among the top three European producers. In the fiscal year 2004-2005 the company shipped 1.24 million tonnes of coated and uncoated products. Exports account for about 70% of production.
NYK and Maanshan sign 10 year charter agreement
Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha announced that it has secured a 10 year charter contract with Ma'anshan Steel for the transportation of iron ore from Brazil and Australia. The two parties held the signing ceremony on November 27th at Ma'anshan in Anhui Province.
During the first five years of the contract, from September 2007 to August 2012, NYK will transport 600,000 tons of iron ore every year, mainly from Brazil for Ma'anshan Steel. From the latter half as of 2012, NYK will transport approximately 2,000,000 tons of iron ore from Brazil and Australia yearly for 5 consecutive years. NYK will make a 200,000 ton iron ore carrier to complete the transportation.
This is NYK's fourth charter contract in China and sixth in the world. NYK had already signed long term charter contracts with Chinese steelmakers including Baosteel Group, Shagang Group and Beitai Steel.
(Sourced form Mysteel.net)
EBRD sanctions $150 million loan for Alchevsk
Ukaranian Journal has reported that the board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a $150 million loan for the construction a cogeneration plant at Alchevsk steel mill in Luhansk region.
Mr Anton Usov press and external affairs officer of the EBRD's office in Kiev told Interfax that the loan will be extended to a special purpose company, Ekoenergia, owned jointly by Alchevsk steel mill and its parent company Industrial Union of Donbass.
Jinchuan sigsn nickel offtake deal from Munali mine inZambia
According to Albidon, which is developing Munali mine in Zambia, Chinese nickel producer Jinchuan has signed a deal to buy all the nickel concentrates from the new Munali over its mine life. Jinchuan will provide $20 million towards development of Munali and take a direct $5 million equity interest in Albidon.
Albidon began site work in September at Munali. First production is envisaged in 2008 with the mine capable of producing around 9,000 tonnes per year of nickel in concentrates.
Italian Rodacciai to upgrade its wire rod mill
Italian special and stainless steel producer Rodacciai is reported to have contracted with Danieli to upgrade its wire rod mill to improve the plants productivity, enlarge the range of product sizes and increase the coil weight. The start up of the revamped mill is scheduled for the third quarter of 2007
The project will include the installation of a new water cooling line and a new laying head. The modification of the coil forming station, a new coil conveyor and a coil compacting & tying unit suitable for the increased coil weight are also part of this project.
Once the project is completed, Rodacciai will produce 8mm to 23.5mm wire rod in carbon and stainless steels at speeds of up to 90meter per second and rates of up to 100 tonnes per hour with coil weight of about 2000 kilograms.
Peace River Coals formation completed
Anglo American Plc has completed the establishment of its northeastern BC metallurgical coal partnership with Hillsborough Resources Ltd and Northern Energy and Mining Inc. The new Peace River Coal Limited Partnership is owned 60% by Anglo Coal Canada Inc, with Hillsborough and NEMI holding 20% each.
Hillsborough and Anglo Coal contribute their interests in the Horizon and Murray River properties to the partnership, along with Hillsborough's Bickford property. NEMI contributes its Trend coal property. Anglo Coal will be the operating manager and will market the partnership's production.
Mr David Slater CEO of Hillsborough's CEO said "This consolidation represents an important step in the development of the northeast coal fields. The combined reserves and resources and obvious operational and logistical synergies demonstrate a long-term and viable strategy providing Hillsborough with a real opportunity to see its metallurgical coal asset base brought to commercial production."
Shipping lines capacity growth outstrips growth in demand
South Koreas ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries said that global rates to move cargo by containers may decline in 2007 as capacity will outstrip demand. The ministry, citing a report from its research institute, said that shipping lines capacity may expand more than 13% next year to over 10 million TEUs, while demand grows at a slower pace of around 9.7%. Capacity grew at an average of 13.9% this year, while demand may increase by 10.2%.
Mr Lim Jin Soo, a researcher at the Korea Marine Institute, said in the statement that rising costs of inland transport, fuel and port fees have also affected profits of shipping lines, eroding gains from expanded global trade. He said "with excessive capacity being added, shipping lines are aggressively competing to increase their market share and that is causing rates to fall as well as hurting their profitability.
About 250 vessels that can each carry more than 5,000 containers will be delivered in 2008, making up half of the current global fleet.
Coal Corp gets Cartagena port concessions in Colombia
Coalcorp Mining Inc announced that the National Institute of Concessions has approved a new, 30 year concession for its ocean port in Cartagena and that Coalcorp also received final approval for its 30 year river port concession and related infrastructure in Capulco. With this approval of the new Cartagena port concession, construction will commence immediately following approval of its Environmental Management Plan, which is expected shortly.
The 30 year concession provides Coalcorp with the ability to load coal and other commodities onto barges destined for ocean ports in Cartagena and Barranquilla. The company plans on investing $20 million to upgrade facilities in Capulco and expects the port to be fully operational by the second quarter of 2008.
The Capulco port is located at the junction of the state railroad, national highway and Magdalena River, approximately 300 miles upstream from Cartagena. This facility is being designed for an ultimate capacity of 20 million tonnes per year, with an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes at an estimated cost of $50 million. Completion is currently estimated for the second half of 2008.
Mr Efrain Carrera president of Coalcorp in Colombia stated "With these approvals, the company, and Colombia, will benefit from the development of the under utilized potential of the "Magdalena Highway" a low-cost, efficient route to facilitate the transport of coal and other commodities from Colombia's interior to international markets."
Coalcorp is a coal mining, exploration and development company with interests in the La Francia and La Caypa coal mines and related infrastructure projects and a number of coal exploration properties, all located in Colombia.
China to restrict loan to high energy consuming sectors in 2007
China is to tighten control on overcapacity industries such as steel, cement and electrolytic aluminium etc to eliminate obsolete and high polluting enterprises and restrict loan by those enterprises next year.
Mr Han Yongwen secretary general of NDRC at the 21st China Economy Annual Conference said that China will take monetary and financial measures to restrict loan by high energy consuming enterprises next year.
Mr Han said that "Automobile industry is a potential overcapacity industry and its adjustment shall go in line with industry policy. Fixed asset investment growth in the whole year is not likely to exceed 24.2% hit in the third quarter, reflecting the effectiveness of a series of deflation policies in the first three quarters. Investment growth in the fourth quarter will drop dramatically."
(Sourced from Mysteel.net)
Wuhan's Fangchenggang project under environmental evaluation
The draft reports of environmental impact revaluation for Wuhan Steel's fangchenggang steel project have been released on its website for public opinion.
In Apr 2005, Wuhan Steel entrusted Central Research Institute of China Metallurgical Construction (Group) Co with environmental impact evaluation of the coastal steel project, cooperated by some other local environmental monitoring and protection bodies. And the research institute of marine engineering and environment under State institute of Marine Affairs was responsible for marine environmental impact assessment.
Wuhan Steel and Liuzhou Steel intended to set up a 10 million tonne iron & steel base in Fangchenggang, which was regarded as a first choice for China's steel industrial reshuffle, taking advantage of position convenience potential market. This heavyweight project attained positive appraisement from the expert penal NDRC assigned to assess the construction report earlier this year and has come to environment assessment stage; it has yet to attain approval from the nation's top governor to date.
(Sourced from Mysteel.net)
26 companies apply for caol export quotas at RBCT
Richards Bay Coal Terminal of South Africa announced recently that 26 coal mining companies have applied to take up the export capacity that would be made available through the Phase V expansion, which would unlock a further 9 million tons a year, taking the terminal's capacity up to 91 million tons a year by 2009.
As per report, current and potential coal exporters had until December 4th 2006 afternoon to submit their tender documents to Mr Alexander Forbes, the independent adjudicator appointed by RBCT to oversee the tender process
Mr Kuseni Dlamini Executive chairperson said in a statement that the process of evaluating each application had now started. Each application was subject to a review, verification and re evaluation process, the successful applicants would be announced in the second quarter of 2007. He said As we have indicated from the beginning, RBCT is committed to the transformation of the South African coal export industry and hence, in the event of over-subscription for the 9 million tons and all applications being equal, the empowerment status of the applicants will be the overriding ranking criteria.
The expansion was deemed necessary in order to meet the short to medium term capacity requirements of export coal producers. Mr Dlamini said "RBCT plays a key role in enhancing the global competitiveness of South Africa's export coal sector and to this country's growth and development objectives. This expansion will increase our contribution to South Africa's export earnings and thus contribute to reducing South Africa's trade deficit.
Indonesia to review Koba Tins mining contract
Bisnis Indonesia has reported that Indonesian government will review PT Koba Tin's mining contract following allegation that the unit of the Malaysia's Smelting Corp Bhd bought tin from illegal miners
Mr Purnomo Yusgiantoro minister of energy and mineral resources was quoted as saying that "It's being looked at as there's a report of illegal mining and he will call Koba Tin to discuss the allegation. Mr Purnomo said in the report that he will call Koba Tin to discuss the allegation.
Nucor-Yamato to install refining station
It is reported that Nucor Steel and Yamato-Kogyo Co Ltds JV Nucor-Yamato steel has ordered a new vacuum degassing and ladle metallurgy installation for its melt shop at Blytheville in Arkansas from Danieli. The equipment is likely to start operation late in 2007.
As per reports, the 100 tonnes integrated operation will be designed for a compact arrangement, with two vacuum tank cars, two separate vacuum-treatment positions with a single switch, one four stage vacuum pump with water ring pumps and a common heating position, which will maximize operational flexibility and reduce reliance on teeming cranes to serve the secondary refining station.
Danieli will supply auxiliary equipment such as automatic sampling and temperature measurement units and an argon gas stirring system. Danieli will also design and supply the new equipment's electrical systems and an advanced Level 2 process control system.
Nucor-Yamato Steel produces more than 2.5 million tons per year of wide flange beams, H-piling, sheet piling, standard I-beams, channels, and various other structural shapes.
Yukon Zinc gets license for Wolverine project
Yukon Zinc Corporation of Canada announced that it has received a mining license for its Wolverine project in the state of Yukon. The license provides for the development of the Wolverine project as a 1500 tonnes per day underground mine producing zinc, copper and lead concentrates containing significant silver and gold. Based on current mining reserves and resources the mine is expected to have a mine life of approximately 10 years.
The feasibility study was completed in May and now being reviewed projected annual production in the first 3 years of development of 33,342 tonnes of zinc, 3,577 tonnes of copper and 3,399 tonnes of lead.
A production decision on Wolverine is expected early next year pending the completion of an optimization study and the securing of project financing. The latter is likely to come in the form of a strategic partner with an evaluation process of potential candidates ongoing.
Mr Putin suggests transmitting lines across Siberia
Mr Vladimir Putin president of Russia's last week said that power lines should be built to transmit electricity from Siberia to the Urals and the European part of the country as Russia's economy needs a powerful boost, which can be provided by increasing the use of nuclear power, hydropower, and coal generated electricity. Mr Putin urged for regional energy systems to be interconnected and said the construction of direct current lines from Siberia to the Urals and on to European Russia should be considered.
Mr Putin said, "In this area, the Siberian region presents huge opportunities. But an obstacle to transmitting power from Siberia to energy lacking regions of the country is the poorly developed inter industry transmission lines, and their low throughput capacity.
The president said these tasks will require major investments. "A corresponding decision has been made, and we will continue with planned changes in the electric power industry, which we call reforms," he said, adding that both private and state investment is envisaged.
LongSteel ties up with Sinosteel for distribution of steel products
Shaanxi Longmen Steel Group inked a strategic cooperation agreement Dec 2 in Xi'an of Sha'anxi Province with Sinosteel Iron & Steel Company, who will be the main distributor of LongSteel's products. In return, LongSteel will provide the latter 500,000 tons of rebar and wire rod every year at most favored sales price.
As a sole subsidiary of Sinosteel Corporation, Sinosteel Iron & Steel Company is the only authorized company in the group to focus on trading and processing of steel products and billet.
Backed by Shaanxi Province, LongSteel who mainly deals with the productions of flat steel products is now among Top 500 Enterprises of China and is one of the three major steel groups in Northwest China.
(Sourced form Mysteel.net)
Zaporizhstals finished output up by 0.4%YoY in 11 months
Zaporizhstal has increased its finished roll output tentatively by 0.4% YoY during January to November 2006 to 3.3 million tonnes. It produced 4.04 million tonnes of crude steel up by 0.9% YoY, 3.255 million tonnes of pig iron up by 0.4%YoY and 5.16 million tonnes of sinter down by 0.1% YoY.
It produced 265,000 tonnes of finished roll, 336,000 tonnes of crude steel, 279,000 tonnes of pig iron and 480,000 tonnes of sinter in November 2005.
ESTAR to set up a steel mill in Kuzbass
It is reported that ESTAR is planning to build up a new electric steel melting plant of the capacity of 1.5 million tons of slabs per annum possibly at Leninsk Uznetsky in Kemerovo region to provide for its largest steel rolling production at Kuzmin's Plant in Novosibirsk. It is.
ESTAR has abstained from any comments on the grounds that no final decision has been made yet.
Huanghua coal harbor passes test
Mr Xu Zuyuan vice minister of communications of china announced that the second phase of construction of China's second largest coal transportation harbor Huanghua has passed national tests.
Huanghua harbor at the city of Cangzhou in Heibei Province will handle 65 million tonnes of coal every year. It is an important energy transportation harbor that will transport China's coal from the north to the south.
ADB sanctions funds for Shannxi to Ningxia rail line
The Asian Development Bank reported that a loan of $300 million is sanctioned to help construction of a 944 kilometer railway line across north China, first East West line connecting Shaanxi Province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and will run from Taiyuan in central Shanxi to Zhongwei and Yinchuan in Ningxia.
As per report the $3.75 billion project will feature 520 kilometer of electrified double track from Taiyuan to Dingbian, 232 kilometer of electrified single track from Dingbian to Zhongwei, and 192 kilometer of electrified single track from Dingbian to Yinchuan. It will include 41 new railway stations, modern safety technology, and electronic and computerized management systems.
Mr Manmohan Parkash senior transport specialist of ADB estimated that 6.5 million people living in 22 districts, half of which are considered poor mainly due to geographical isolation, limited and expensive transport access and poor access to market information as well as health, education and other social services, would benefit from the railway.
Peabody appoints Mr Hagedom as VP of business performance
Peabody Energy announced that Mr Christopher J Hagedorn has been named VP of Business Performance, reporting to Executive VP of Strategy and Business Services Mr Roger B Walcott Jr. Mr Hagedorn will be responsible for driving and integrating Peabody's companywide performance improvement efforts.
Mr Hagedorn is heading the company's new set of transformation initiatives, termed "P3", that have been introduced to improve Peabody's performance through a focus on People, Platforms and Processes to shape the company's culture, capitalize on Peabody's strengths and deliver on its core strategies. He will work across Peabody in areas such as Operations, Marketing, Corporate Development, Strategy and Business Services units to identify and integrate best practices.
Mr Hagedorn most recently served as an Associate Principal for McKinsey & Company, where he served as a management consultant to the Energy, Chemicals, Petroleum and Mining sectors since 2000.
Peabody Energy is the world's largest private sector coal company, with 2005 sales of 240 million tons of coal and $4.6 billion in revenues. Its coal products fuel approximately 10% of all U.S. electricity generation and 3% of worldwide electricity.
