Reliance Industry considering AP to WB gas pipeline

BL has reported that Reliance Industries Ltd may invest up to INR 8,000 crore in the proposed 1,100 kilometers gas pipeline from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Howrah in West Bengal for connecting West Bengal with its major gas finds in the Krishna Godavari and Mahanadi NEC basins.

Mr RP Sharma president of RIL's LNG business while speaking to newspersons said that the company had already invited expressions of interest for common access of the pipeline. The offer will close this month, following which the company will finalize the pipeline's capacity.

Mr Sharma did not elaborate on the quantity of gas RIL plans to sell in West Bengal but he said that the pipeline would not be viable for capacities less than 10 million standard cubic meter of natural gas a day.

As per report, additional investments ranging up to INR 5,000 crore may be made in creating city gas distribution infrastructure in Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogly, Midnapore and Burdwan. RIL is expecting to supply 3.5 million cubic meter of natural gas a day for city gas usage in the 5 locations.

Jharkhand assembly recommends ban on 5 polluting units

Local media has reported that the implementation committee of the Jharkhand state assembly has recommended an immediate ban on the operation of 5 industrial units namely Kedla Washery of the Central Coalfields Limited Patratu Thermal Power Station, Bokaro Thermal Power Station, Bihar Sponge and Iron Limited, Chandil and Shivarama Sponge Iron Limited saying that they are serious environmental hazards.

Mr Saryu Rai committee convener in his report to the Jharkhand speaker pointed out that these units were not only discharging hazardous contents into the adjoining rivers but also emitting poison in the air.

Kerala rules out private participation in KMML

It is reported that the Kerala government has no plans to allow private sector participation in the state owned Indias leading rutile grade titanium dioxide manufacturer Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. Mr Elamaram Kareem state industry minister in a statement said that KMML would not enter into any JV or similar arrangements with the private sector. He termed the reports that KMML was going in for a JV with the TATA as baseless.

Mr Kareem added that on the other hand, the government intended to take up production of titanium metal and start allied industries even while retaining the mining of mineral sands in the public sector. He said that as India does not have the technology for production of titanium metal, the government had discussions with the Russian government that possessed the requisite technology.

The minister said that the discussions he had with the Russian Ambassador in New Delhi recently were related to cooperation between the two countries in respect of the technology for production of titanium metal and any proposal for a joint venture or other tie ups involving KMML did not figure in the discussions.

He further added that there were reports about sourcing of titanium dioxide from KMML for establishing a titanium industry in Orissa in cooperation with the Russian Government. But, neither the state government nor KMML has any information on this.

Mercator may enter into thermal coal business

Exim News reported that Mercator Lines Ltd has planned to trade in coal by owning coal mines or entering into a tie up with coal suppliers abroad to ensure adequate business and protecting the long term interests of its coal carriers. The report mentions that it is holding talks with coal mine owners and suppliers in Mozambique.

The report cited Mr HK Mittal CMD of Mercator Lines as saying that "Shipping assets are high cost assets. We want to tie up with coal mines abroad to guard our core shipping business. This will ensure that our bulk carriers that transport coal are not affected by market fluctuations and we get better returns."

Mercator has 4 Panamax bulk carriers that can carry 70,000 tonnes to 73,000 tonnes and one Kamsarmax carrier that can haul 82,500 tonnes of coal and another Kamsarmax bulk carrier will be inducted into the fleet in June 2007. Mercator has signed a 4 year INR 1,000 crore contract with TATA Power Co to transport 1.7 million tonnes of coal a year from Indonesia to its power plant here and the figure will go up by an additional 1 million tonnes when Tata power starts operating another plant within a year. Mercator Lines also ships 1.7 million tonnes of coal from Indonesia for the Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

Jai Balaji, JSW & Bhushan Power get mine for coking coal

Jai Balaji Sponge Ltd has announced that ministry for coal, government of India, , vide their letter dated April 9/11 2007 has allocated ROHNE mine for coking coal to them jointly with JSW Steels Ltd and Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd.

Boakro Powers EIA study by July for 2x250MW power plant

Projects Today reported that Bokaro Power Supply Company intends to complete the environment impact assessment study for the 2x250 MW coal based Bokaro power plant by July 2007.

The project to be developed on 7,520 acres of land will entail an investment of around INR 2,200 crore and is scheduled for completion in October 2010 and financial closure for the project is expected by October 2007.

BPSC is also a50:50 JV between Steel Authority of India Limited and National Thermal Power Corporation Limited. It operates and manages the captive power plants of Durgapur and Rourkela Steel Plants and is also augmenting its Bokaro coal based power plant capacity from existing 302 MW to 338 MW with an investment of INR 350 crore.

Indian truckers may hike freight charges due to higher interest rates

It is reported that truck operators are planning to increase freight rates by 10% to 15% to offset the rising cost of buying commercial vehicles due to hardening interest rates.

Mr Gurinder Pal Singh president of All India Motor Transport Congress said that the truckers are upset that even as the government reduced prices of diesel, which accounts for 60% of their operating costs the interest rate hikes have increased the cost of owning a truck by 40%.

It is said that, on a loan amount of INR 0.8 million, the buyers have to shell out INR 0.1 million more a year now. The prevailing interest rate is 15% to 15.5% as against 10% to 11% some months ago. Over 98% commercial vehicles are financed. The introduction of 0.5% processing fee on all finance deals has also hit the transporters.

SW Railway records 12% YoY growth in freight loading in 2006-07

It is reported that the South Western Railway has recorded an originating freight loading of 42.61 million tonnes during 2006-07 up by 12% YoY as against 38.03 million tonnes during 2005-06. Its total originating freight earnings during 2006-07 stood at INR 2,640.95 crore up by 28.4% YoY as against INR 2,056.75 crore during 2005-06.

The Hubli division has contributed a major chunk to the originating freight loading of the zone. The originating loading of the Hubli division stood at 37.21 million tonnes in 2006-07 as against 33.37 million tonnes in 2005-06. Hubli division earned an originating freight earning of INR 2,213.73 crore in 2006-07 as against INR 1,701.79 crore in 2005-06.

A press release said that SWR wants to achieve freight loading of 48.5 million tonnes during 2007-08.

SWR zone is headquartered at Hubli and consists of 3 divisions Hubli, Bangalore and Mysore.

CLW targets 1,000 electric locos in 11th Plan

It is reported that Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, is gearing up to produce a major share of at least 1,000 locos out of the expected demand of 1,800 electric locos of the Indian Railways as projected in the 11th Five Year Plan. CLW has planned to produce 200 electric locomotives in 2007-08 for 2008-09 the figure is expected to be 250 locos.

Mr V Shankar MG of CLW while briefing CLW's future vision and production planning schedule for 2007-08 said that the unit is planning to develop complete traction solutions to meet the competition expected in the near future, likely through new joint ventures in domestic electric locomotive manufacturing. Mr Shankar said that the proposed up gradation of electric locos by the Indian Railways from 6,000 hp to the next notch of 7,000 hp may take another 2 and a half years.

He said that CLW was also actively looking at outsourcing some of the components for the conventional locos, especially of items such as sub assemblies and other proven routine items. He, however, categorically stated that CLW was now fully geared to meet competition both qualitatively and quantitatively.

CLW's total budget for plant and machinery during 2007-08 is placed at INR 14.6 crore and for expansion of workshop INR 66 crore has been sanctioned by the ministry.

Simplex Infrastructure bags INR 708 crore orders

Kolkata based Simplex Infrastructures has won an INR 708.4 crore orders towards civil and structural work for cement plant, hotels, ports, approach jetty, flyovers and bridges spread across the country and also in the Middle East.

The project includes reconstruction of Mattancherry Wharf at Cochin Port Trust and main berth and construction of approach jetty at Dahej in the marine sector. Other projects are from Dalmia Cements, Grasim Industries and Bina Refinery for civil and structural works.

SSINA releases January market data for special steels in US

The Specialty Steel Industry of North America has released the latest available statistical data on imports, US consumption and import penetration for January 2007 compared to January 2006.

Imports of total specialty steel comprising of stainless steel, alloy tool steel and electrical steel in January 2007 were 86,509 tons a 24% increase compared to January 2006, US consumption was 261,111 tons a 10% increase and import penetration was 33% a four percentage point increase.

Alloy tool steels imports in January 2007 were 6,566 tons, a 27% decrease compared to January 2006, US consumption and import penetrations were not calculable.

Electrical steels imports in January 2007 were 7,878 tons a 203% increase compared to January 2006,U. consumption was 35,450 tons, a 28% increase and one month import penetration was 22%, a thirteen percentage point increase.

Imports of total stainless steel in January 2007 were 72,065 tons a 23% increase as compared to January 2006, US consumption was 220,545 tons a 9% increase; import penetration was 33% and a four percentage point increase.

In tons
Source SSINA

SSINA is a Washington DC based trade association representing virtually all continental specialty metals producers. Its member companies are AK Steel Corporation, ATI Allegheny Ludlum Corporation and ATI Allvac, Carpenter Technology Corporation, Crucible Specialty Metals, Electralloy, Haynes International Inc, ThyssenKrupp Mexinox SA de CV, North American Stainless, Outokumpu Stainless Inc, Precision Rolled Products Inc, Latrobe Specialty Steel Company, Universal Stainless and Alloy Products and Valbruna Slater Stainless Inc.

Several global steel makers eying Stelco

Steel industry sources and analysts feel that steel companies from Mexico, Russia, India and Brazil are may be seriously looking at Canadian Stelco Inc after a flurry of takeovers has created a scarcity of steel assets available especially for producers anxious to get foothold into the North American market.

Mr Rodney Mott CEO of Stelco said that there are always ongoing discussions. He has said previously that it would make sense for Stelco to be part of a larger company but recently said that We are not out there pursuing anything.

Industry experts said that between 4 and 5 companies are examining Stelco. The likely suitor may include Russian Severstal, Mexican Ternium & Altos Hornos de Mexico and some Indian steel makers.

Stelco has a high legacy costs but has quality assets and a solid customer base among auto makers in North America. Stelco has a pension deficit of USD 460 million, obligations of about USD 60 million a year for several years to eliminate a pension solvency deficiency and USD 1.3 billion in long term benefits payable to employees and retirees. Stelco also has long term debt of USD 342 million.

Outokumpus Kloster unit to increase SS strip capacity by 50%

Outokumpus thin strip unit at Kloster in Sweden has started its expansion project with an investment cost of some EUR 55 million. Kloster's capacity will be increased by 50% when the thicknesses will be down to 0.12 mm in the annealed condition and widths up to 1,100mm from 830mm.

The investment is divided into 4 sub projects and there will be 10,000 square meter of new floor space for production facilities, a new cold rolling mill, and new bright annealing and slitting lines, to complement the previous, similar lines.

Mr Petter Eriksson GM of Kloster said that Before the current investment, we had reached our limits of growth and meeting the Group goals.

The majority of Klosters products go to cylinder head gaskets, plate heat exchangers, automotive flexible tubes and the welding industry. Approximately 95% of the customers are end users.

Liuzhou Steels 2006 net profit up by 39.9% YoY

Chinese steelmaker Liuzhou Steel produced 5.0861 million tons of pig iron, 5.3542 million tons of crude steel and 3.8106 million tons of steel products in 2006. About 5.4827 million tons of billet and steel products were sold at the same time.

The steel maker's key business realized CNY 15.097 billion of sales revenue up by 19.92% YoY, CNY 1.435 billion of profit up by 35.76% YoY and CNY 716 million of net profit up by 39.9% YoY.

(Sourced fro MySteel.net)

Fitch revises Severstal rating outlook from stable to positive

RIA Novosti reported that Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook for Russia's second largest steel producer Severstal's issuer default and national long-term ratings to positive from stable. In addition, Fitch has affirmed Severstal's ratings at Issuer Default BB-, senior unsecured BB-, Short-term B and National Long-term A+.

Fitch said that "The Positive Outlook reflects Severstal's corporate governance improvements that were undertaken in view of its IPO in November 2006 and Fitch's expectations that the company will continue to adhere to best international practice.

As per report, Severstal appointed an independent Chairman of the Board of Directors, changed the Board's composition and established board committees. However, as these initiatives have only recently been implemented, it remains to be seen how committed the company will be to the new practices."

Severstal in early April had announced that its net profit for2006, calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards, was down by 30.4%, YoY to USD 1.18 billion, its sales increased by 19.1% YoY to USD 12.42 billion, operating income fell by 15.8% YoY to USD 1.95 billion and EBITDA went up by 4.7% YoY to USD 2.98 billion.

Mittal Steel US to starts steel exports

Arcelor Mittals US operations Mittal Steel USA announced that it plans to export 200,000 tons of steel beginning in the Q2 to take advantage of the global market.

Mr Michael G Rippey president and CEO of Mittal Steel US in a statement said that Traditionally, Mittal Steel USA and its predecessor companies have not been active exporters. However, with the continuing strength in the global market, we plan to aggressively seek new opportunities that fit our capabilities.

Mittal Steel USA has operations in 12 states of US.

WBMS puts global tin market in deficit in January to February

World Bureau of Metals Statistics said the global tin market recorded a calculated market deficit of 8,000 tonnes during January to February 2007 as the production fell by 7,000 tonnes YoY in the period. Its calculation factors in 1,500 tonnes of supply from sales by the US Defense Logistics Agency.

Global tin demand fell by 2.5% during January to February 2007 as compared with the same period a year ago. WBMS said that in January and February of 2007, tin demand dropped to 58,100 tonnes as compared to 59,600 in January to February 2006.

WBMS noted that production falls in Indonesia, particularly after the government clampdown on illegal tin mining at the end of the year, reduced the amount of tin available.

WBMS said tin mine production increased by 3% YoY to 51,800 tonnes with all of the increase recorded in China. Refined tin production was down by 7,000 tonnes or 13% YoY from the volume produced in the same two months in 2006.

Ukraines economy expands at 8% in Q1 despite political crisis

The Ukrainian State Statistics Committee reported that its economy expanded 8% on the year in the first quarter showing little sign of slowdown despite an ongoing political crisis.

The committee reported that the economic expansion was fueled by robust growth in manufacturing industry but also in construction and retail sectors.

The committee said that growth in construction work was seen in all types of building, in particular, a 16.4% rise in the construction of buildings and a 12.4% rise in the installing of engineering equipments.

Peabody to divest Appalachia coal assets

It is reported that world's largest coal company Peabody Energy Corp lat week said that it has hired investment banking firm Morgan Stanley to explore options for getting rid of its operations in West Virginia and Kentucky most likely by spinning them off as an independent company. Mr Vic Svec spokesman for Peabody said that all operations in West Virginia and Kentucky probably will be included. Last year, those mines produced 23 million tons of coal.

Mr Gregory Boyce CEO of Peabody during a conference call with analysts said "Peabody's strategy is to remain the leader in the Wyoming Powder River, Southwest Colorado and Illinois Basins, to continue to grow rapidly in Australia and to expand into the fastest growing global markets for coal, led by China and India. This transaction would allow Peabody to continue to deliver on these strategies."

Mr Boyce added that Peabody's mines in West Virginia and Kentucky would be better off on their own. He said "There are going to be more value and more focus to have a separate entity. There is a great business model that can be created in the Eastern properties. And what we want to do is to make sure going forward with the spin that we got a management team and a set of assets that is focused within that region."

The news comes at a tumultuous time for Appalachia's coal industry, when producers have been idling mines to balance production with demand, but they are also confronting other issues.

USW in merger talks with UK's 2 large unions

United Steel Workers announced that it hopes for a merger with two British unions Amicus and the Transport & General Workers to create the first Trans Atlantic union which would provide a model for other unions worldwide. USW which has 850,000 active members and another 350,000 retirees in the US and Canada while the two British unions, who will themselves merge into a new union to be called Unite, have 1.78 million active members and over 200,000 retirees.

Mr Leo Gerard USW President and Mr Derek Simpson Amicus General Secretary said that the talks on merger details will take a year and in the meantime the USW and the British unions will work together on such things as coordinated campaigns and common approaches to collective bargaining with multi nationals. Mr Gerard said a committee of five representatives each from USW, Amicus and the Transport & General Workers would spend the next year working out the details, aided by lawyers and organizers who could detail the law and principles involved in the Trans Atlantic nations.

Mr Gerard explained "Primarily in our existence, we dealt with North American capitalists. But now, with the World Trade Organization and other trade agreements we're dealing with industry and capital that has become globalize. As global corporations have tried to force their will on job security health care and pensions we've found we have to get together" to combat them. He pointed out that the merger is also needed because the USW its Canadian arm and the British unions each represent workers not just in steel and allied enterprises, but at least 12 sectors of the economy.

Mr Simpson added that "This is not necessarily an issue based merger. This is about whether we've got the means to do anything about any issue. You have to have the tools to deal with multi national companies. The way before has been to work within national borders, but trade union leaders realized that it's long past time to" go beyond that. If we don't increase the standards of living of workers in the developing world, they'll be used as cannon fodder against us."

Mr Simpson added another reason for the merger Globalization, which he renamed global exploitation, leads many workers to reject joining unions, because they believe nation based unions are too weak to combat the multi nationals. He said at the same time when the multi nationals cut jobs, such as steel jobs, from the US Great Britain or Canada, to developing nations that doesn't even benefit the people who receive those jobs.

Salzgitter Q1 result better than expected

Mr Wolfgang Leese CEO of Germany AG told journalists in Hanover recently that the company's Q1 result was better than it had expected. Mr Leese said that the Q1 went well better than initially anticipated. But he declined to provide any concrete financial details of the company's performance.

Mr Leese hinted that Salzgitter could raise its full year outlook when it releases first quarter results. He said that It looks a bit more positive.

The company said last month it expects full year sales to exceed 2006's EUR 8.45 billion level. Mr Leese said the company will significantly exceed last year's sales total without specifying further. Salzgitter also said it does not expect full year pretax profit to match last year's EUR 1.85 billion total because of divestitures.

Salzgitter is scheduled to issue its first quarter financial figures on May 15th 2007.

The chief executive also said Salzgitter will likely announce further steel price increases this year. He said that It is quite clear if the market conditions remain constant then prices will increase. After all there is no brake on raw material prices.

Mount Burgess to open zinc mine at Kihabe in Botswana

Botswana Press Agency reported that Botswana will soon open a zinc mine along Botswana Namibia boarder at a place known as Kihabe west of Nokaneng in the North West District. The project which started in 1983 but due to its remoteness within Botswana and the struggle for independence in Namibia through the 1980s the project was inactive.

Botswana said that Mount Burgess Mining applied for a prospecting license at Kihabe for 1969/03 and was granted the same. It added that if all went according to plan the project would be scheduled to commence production around November 2008. The planned project schedule is to follow a pre feasibility study that commenced in July 2006 and completed in December 2006 and the feasibility study started in January 2007 and will be completed in July 2007.

Mr Nigel Forrester CEO of Mount Burgess Mining indicated that there is significant zinc, lead and silver wealth in the order of 11 million tonnes calculated to a depth of 150 meters with some extensions to 190 meter. Mr Forrester added that based upon a positive bankable feasibility study and approval to commence mining, the project finance will be sought for design and construction due to sustained growth in countries such as China and India zinc was in high demand.

Yunnan Tins Q1 profit surge 6 folds

Chinese tin major Yunnan Tin Company has reported a six fold increase in net profit in the Q1 of 2007 and forecasts a more than seven fold rise in profit in the first half of the year.

Yunnan said that January to March net profit was CNY 126 million (USD 16 million) while its turnover doubled to CNY 1.66 billion (USD 215 million). Its export prices increased by 60% while domestic prices rose 23% in the period and refined tin sales in the period rose 65% to 9,224 tonnes.

YTC's Singapore Tin Industries JV reported a loss of USD 7,000 in the quarter, due to a shortage of raw material feed. The Singapore plant's refined tin production dropped to only 426 tonnes in the three months. YTC owns 42% of STI.

Yunnan Tin Company Limited is the largest tin producer and exporter in China. Its major products cover more than 300 varieties in over 20 categories including tin ingot, tin lead alloy, lead ingot, solder shapes, tin shapes and tin chemicals. The annual capacity of each product is 35,000 tons of tin, 20,000 tons of lead and 14,500 tons of tin chemicals respectively. Yunnan Tin Co Ltd is an integrate complex operating from mineral exploration, mining, processing, smelting & refining, tin chemical production, to down stream products producing from both tin metal and other non ferrous metals.

Court upholds AK Steel pension ruling

A US federal appeals court recently upheld a ruling awarding at least USD 46.2 million to 1,250 former employees of AK Steel Holding Corp.

Mr Tom Downie attorney for the retirees said he was pleased with the ruling by a three judge panel of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals. He said "We're especially happy because a case like this is on behalf of a class of retirees who have waited a long time for money they were supposed to be paid a long time ago."

AK Steel spokesman Mr Alan McCoy said that the company is considering appealing the ruling and has several options for an appeal. He said "We are obviously very disappointed."

The former employees claimed the steelmaker miscalculated their pension benefits under an early retirement program. The plaintiffs who had retired or were terminated since January 1st 1995 sued the company in 2002. They said that AK's method of calculating lump sum payments to workers who had not reached full retirement age did not comply with federal law and resulted in underpayments for participants in one of its pension plans. The company appealed a US district court judge issued a partial ruling in favor of the employees in April 2004 and in February 2006 awarded them USD 37.6 million in damages and USD 8.6 million in interest which continues to accrue.

AK Steel has another case pending in federal court, where about 4,600 retirees are challenging the company's announcement last year that it would start charging a monthly premium for a portion of their health care insurance, which had been free. A judge has temporarily blocked AK from imposing that charge until the case goes to trial.

Maragusa eying pig iron plant start in June

BNamericas reported that Brazilian pig iron producer Maragusa is carrying out a forestation program related to its pig iron project in Parstate that is due to start on June 30th 2007.

Mr Zeferino Abreu Neto administrative director of Maragusa told BNamericas that "We will plant 2,500ha of eucalyptus this year and adding some 2,500 to 3,000ha per year will be planted in the coming years. Our goal is to reach a 30,000ha area within 10 years."

Mr Zeferino said output is earmarked for export, but securing a buyer for the material is not a priority at Maragusa. He said "We are not concerned about negotiations we want to start production first."

The new project includes four blast furnaces with capacity of some 12,000 tonne per month each. The company expects to start one blast furnace per year starting this year. The unit is based in Marabcity.

Mittal Steel Ostrava to reduce workforce by 1,000 in 2007 Report

Czech daily Hospodarske noviny reported that Mittal Steel Ostrava will retrench about 1,000 staff in 2007 this year due to obligations to the EU and the necessity to increase labor productivity.

Mittal Steel has been slashing its workforce for 3 years. In 2004 it employed 11,000 people. Today it has 8,600 staff and the number should fall by another 2,000 by end 2008.

Siemens to increase presence in Russia

RIA Novosti reported that Germany's Siemens and Russia's railroad monopoly Russian Railways plan to sign a EUR 300 million deal on servicing Moscow to St Petersburg high speed trains.

Mr Dietrich Meller president of Siemens Russia said that the contract will be good for 30 years and complies with the accords reached with RZD in the summer of 2006. He also said Siemens is interested in setting up a JV in Russia to produce components and parts for rolling stock.

Mr Meller said Siemens also intends to bid in a tender to be held by the electric power monopoly Unified Energy System of Russia for a blocking interest in Russia's Power Machines, which designs, produces, supplies, maintains and modernizes equipment for steam, nuclear, hydro, and gas turbine power plants. Its largest shareholders include UES and Siemens, which hold 25% plus one share each and Interros, the holding company for the worlds largest nickel producer which owns 30.4 %.

Insteels Q2 earnings dip by 33% YoY

Insteel Industries Inc announced that its second quarter earnings fell more than a third from 2006 as the downturn in the housing market continued, which is a major consuming segment for its steel wire reinforcing products.

Insteel Industries Inc net income for the quarter ended March 31st 2007 totaled USD 4.9 million down by 34% YoY from USD 7.4 million in the prior year period. Insteel Sales decreased to USD 74.7 million from USD 79.7 million in previous year and gross margins narrowed to 16.5% from 21.3% during the quarter in part due to higher raw material costs and lower average selling prices.

Mr HO Woltz III CEO of Insteel said "Considering the continued weakness in housing related demand, escalating raw material costs and adverse weather conditions that we experienced in certain of our markets, we are pleased with Insteel's financial results for the Q2."

Mr Woltz added that the company faced difficult YoY comparisons with Q2 of 2006 when the company posted record sales and said that the company expects increased demand for its nonresidential construction work in the second half of the year even as housing related business remains flat.

Russias Q1 crude steel output up by 7.3% YoY

Russias Federal State Statistics Service said that Russia has raised crude steel output by 7.3% YoY to 18.239 million tonnes in the January to March quarter of 2007.

Russias converter steel output rose by 1.7% YoY to 10.475 million tonnes while EAF output grew by 30.1% YoY to 4.514 million tonnes.

Russian producers also increased pig iron production by 0.8% YoY to 12.928 million tonnes in the period.

Mikhaolovsky GOKs Q1 output remains flat

Russian iron ore producing plant Mikhaolovsky GOK, a part of Gasmetal holding, in an announcement said that its output during January to March 2007 remained on the same level as it was in January to March 2006.

During January to March 2007 Mikhaolovsky produced 4.999 million tonnes of ore as compared to 4.966 million tonnes in January to March 2006. Iron concentrate production reduced to 4.188 million tonnes from 4.215 million tonne, sintering ore output rose to 0.654 million tonnes from 0.613 million tonnes and pellets production increased to 2.417 million tonnes from 2.362 million tonnes.

Coal washery installation starts at Morupule Colliery in Botswana

It is reported that Mr Blackie Marole MD of Debswana performed the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the installation of a coal washing plant at Morupule Colliery in Botswana. The cost of the new project and associated works is estimated at BWP 84 million.

Mr Morale said that The new coal washing plant will increase our market opportunities both locally and internationally. The plant will reduce the ash and sulphur content of the coal and increase its caloric value significantly.

Mr David Kgoboko a section head at Morupule Colliery said that "Metal industries prefer washed coal because it has no impurities and can then be beneficiated to other products. The plant is designed to yield 1 million tonnes of washed coal a year at the rate of 200 tonnes of raw coal per hour.

Mr Cletus Tangane mines manager said that late last year, the company entered into a contract with South Africa DRA Plant Design and Control Engineers to construct a wash plant which was expected to be operational by the end of the year. He said the wash plant would process coal to remove coal by products such as ash that was of no benefit to coal users.

Botswana has massive coal reserves in the eastern part of the country estimated at about 17 billion tonnes. Morupule Colliery supplies its coal to the only thermal power station at Morupule, for the mining operations at the BCL copper & nickel mine at Selebi Phikwe and the soda ash plant at Sua Pan.

KAL Energy announces discovery of new coal seam in East Kalimantan

MARKET WIRE reported that KAL Energy Inc confirmed that a second coal seam has been discovered on its East Kalimantan Coal Concession in Indonesia.

As per report the drilling results of the previously announced Phase 1 exploration program indicate that the new seam is approximately 1.5 meter thick with extent and quality to be determined by further drilling.

The new seam was not part of the original 192 million ton geological resource estimated earlier.