June, 24 2007
Indian delegation visiting Australia to explore coking coal options
Mr Ram Vilas Paswan Indian’s union minister for steel, chemicals & fertilizers, leading a high level delegation, has embarked on a visit to Australia to explore opportunities in Australia for meeting growing demand for coking coal in India. The delegation will see first hand the opportunities available there for wider and deeper cooperation for ensuring steady supply of coking coal.
The delegation includes the Mr SK Roongta chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited, Mr George Elias joint secretary in the ministry of steel and senior officials from the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited and National Mineral Development Corporation.
Mr Paswan will have discussions with the federal minister for industries of Australia Mr Ian McFarlane and ministers in the provincial governments of Western Australia, which is one of the key outsourcing points for coking coal. During his stay, Mr Paswan will also have meeting with Chamber of Minerals and Energy at Perth and will also be given presentations by some leading companies like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. The delegation will also visit Illawarra coking coalmines at Wollongong and Port Kembla to witness high speed handling of cargo.
SAIL and RINL, together import over 15 million tones of coking coal in a year, nearly 90% of which comes from Australia. With the two companies set to double their installed capacity in the next few years and private steel companies also adding to their capacity the issue of raw material security remains the strategic issue for the Indian steel sector.
NTPC to buy 44.60% stake in Transformers and Electricals Kerala
National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd announced that it has forged a dynamic alliance with Kerala government’s Transformers and Electricals Kerala Ltd in a strategic step towards making NTPC an integrated power major.
NTPC has decided to enter into a business collaboration and shareholders agreement with TELK and the Government of Kerala for synergy in the field of manufacturing and repair of high voltage power transformers and associated equipment. As a result of this agreement, the Company has agreed to acquire 44.6% stake in Transformers and Electricals Kerala Ltd from government of Kerala and its undertakings presently holding 95.6% equity.
Transformers and Electricals Kerala Ltd has expertise of over four decades in the business of manufacture, marketing and servicing of Power Transformers, Current Voltage Transformers, Circuit Breakers, Isolated Phase Bus Ducts, Shunt Reactors etc.
Gail unveils mega plans for its pipe line network
It is reported that GAIL India Ltd is planning to invest INR 45,000 crore by 2011 from the present INR 16,000 crore for laying seven new pipelines. It will increase GAIL's network to 11,500 kilometers from the present 6,700 kilometers doubling the carrying capacity to more than 280 square cubic meter a day.
Mr UD Choubey chairman & MD of Gail India said that with the petroleum and natural gas ministry approving 5 new pipelines and giving clearance to augment capacities of 3 existing pipelines, Gail, which is primarily into the gas supply business, sees major growth provided there is an increase in gas availability.
The 5 new pipelines, covering 5000 kilometer and entailing investment of INR 18,000 crore, will increase Gail’s capacity by another 140 million standard cubic meter per day by 2011. This 5 new pipelines projects includes
1. 610 kilometer Dadri- Bawana- Nangal pipeline
2. 310 kilometer Chainsa- Gurgaon- Jhajjhar- Hissar pipeline
3. 876 kilometer Jagdishpur- Haldia pipeline
4. 730 kilometer Dabhol- Bangalore pipeline and
5. 840 kilometer Koch- Kanjirkkod- Bangalore pipeline
Plans were afoot for augmenting the capacities of three existing pipelines in the second phase by 2011. The three augmenting projects include
1. Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline
2. Vijaipur-Dadri pipeline
3. Vijaipur-Auraiya-Jagdishpur pipeline
Mr Choubey added that to ensure gas availability, GAIL had already signed MoU with Reliance Industries and ONGC for transportation of natural gas from various gas sources. It also signed a pact with Shell India for sharing of GAIL's pipeline interconnectivity with Hazira terminal for gas supplies in the country.
BEL, HAL & PFC get Navratna status
Indian government has granted Navratna status to three public sector undertakings
1. Bharat Electronics Limited
2. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
3. Power Finance Corporation Limited
Mr P Chidambaram finance minister said that this is an acknowledgement of their excellent performance over a period of time.
Four more public sector undertakings National Aluminum Company, National Mineral Development Corporation, Power Grid Corporation India Limited and Rural Electrification are expected to be given the Navratna status as soon as they fill all the vacancies for independent directors.
With this approval, the no of Navratna public sector undertakings has increased to 12 from earlier 9.
Navratna status gives the companies more financial and administrative powers.
DVC may borrow overseas to fund expansion plans
BL reported that Damodar Valley Corporation is exploring overseas borrowing opportunities to finance its mega INR 24,000 crore 5,800MW capacity expansion plan in next three years. DVC currently has a capacity of 2,210 MW including 80 MW of hydel power.
Mr TK Gupta Director Finance of Damodar Valley Corporation said that "We have recently tested our hands with USD 150 million sanctions from SBI's overseas operations. We are now looking forward to the next quarterly review of the monetary policy due in July to devise our future strategy." He said that foreign currency loans were available at 7% to 7.5% on an average compared to the most competitive domestic borrowing cost of 9% to 9.5%.
Mr Gupta said that out of a total loan finance requirement of INR 16,000 crore the corporation has already lined up INR 5,000 crore finance’s from PFC. He added that apart from this the company has signed agreements with PFC for raising INR 3,200 crore loan finance for the 1,000 MW capacity augmentation of Kodarma thermal power station and is awaiting the Center’s approval for firming up the finance.
This apart, applications for loan finance have been submitted to PFC and Rural Electrification Corporation for the proposed 2X600 MW Raghunathpur thermal power plant and the 2X500 MW Durgapur thermal projects. Both the projects would require loan finance in the range of INR 3,200 crore.
BHEL asked to shape up to meet power target in 11th Plan
FE reported that Dr Manmohan Singh prime minister of India has called for Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited to work in extra shift to complete its order book, which is crucial to meet the power generation target of 78,000MW during the 11th Plan period.
Mr Anil Razdan power secretary has urged BHEL to commensurately upgrade its manufacturing capacity for key critical equipment like boiler piping, pressure part, hangers and supports so that it could commission the 11th Plan power projects as per schedule. Mr Razdan has also asked BHEL to strengthen its vendor base for supply of critical equipment like the coal handling plant, ash handling plant and cooling water system.
A recent report has pointed out that serious bottlenecks in the supply of this key equipment from BHEL manufacturing units led to delay in commissioning of most of the power projects allocated to it for implementation during the 10th Plan period.
Mr AK Puri CMD of BHEL had recently told FE that BHEL has embarked upon a very ambitious plan of enhancing its manufacturing capacity to 15,000MW per annum with a total investment of around INR 3,200 crore, for the 11th Plan. In addition to holistic modernization of facilities, the company would augment its capacity by a massive 250% from 6,000MW to 15,000MW per annum. At present, BHEL is in the process of enhancing its manufacturing capacity from 6,000MW to 10,000MW per annum at a cost of INR 1,200 crore and the enhanced capacity of 10,000MW would be available by the end of 2007.
Annual capacity addition of at least 15,000MW to 16,000MW is necessary to complete the target of 78,000MW by the end of 2012. Whereas only 21,000MW was added during the 10th Plan period as against the target of 41,000MW, partially due to the delays in the supply of plant and equipment from BHEL.
Sethusamudram dredging to end by December 2008
Mr TR Baalu union minister of shipping, road transport & highways announced that the work on the Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project would be completed before December 2008.
Mr Ballu recently reviewed the progress of the project with the officials of the Sethusamudram Corporation Limited and Dredging Corporation of India besides other concerned agencies. Mr Baalu directed the officials to re work the inspection schedule of the dredging work to ensure that the progress of work on the project is continuously monitored and problem areas are addressed to immediately.
The dry docking would be completed by October 2007 onwards, which is the next working season after the South West Monsoon. The procurement of Barge Handling System for dredger Aquarius, which would greatly improve its productivity is also being finalized. This Barge Handling System is targeted to be installed on dredger Aquarius by November 2007.
Dredging Corporation of India, which has been awarded the contract for carrying out the dredging work, has informed that a total of 5 dredgers are deployed for the dredging work, 4 at Adam’s Bridge area and 1 at Palk Bay/Pak Strait. As on date, a total of 18.74 million cubic meters of dredging has been carried out.
Mr Baalu also reviewed the progress of the repair of dredger Aquarius and expressed his satisfaction that the work is progressing as per schedule. A meeting has also been held with the chairman of Japanese company Kojimagumi Company Limited, who is in possession of the world’s largest Grab dredger and wish to offer it for SSCP. Mr Baalu directed the officials to finalize the negotiations with this company at the earliest.
ABG Shipyard 2006-07 net up by 39% YoY
India’s largest private sector shipbuilding company ABG Shipyard Ltd has posted a net profit of INR 32.98 crore in the fourth quarter of 2006-07 up by 6.68% YoY as compared to INR 30.93 crore during the same quarter of 2005-06. The release added that ABG Shipyards’ net profit for the entire fiscal has surged by 38.97% YoY to INR 116.29 crore as against INR 83.68 crore in 2005-06
ABG in a press release said that its net sales in the fourth quarter 2006-07 has rose by 0.15% YoY to INR 193.06 crore against INR 192.78 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2005-06 while net sales stood at INR 704.36 crore in 2006-07 up by 30.02% YoY as against INR 541.74 crore in 2005-06.
Its total order book position as on June 18th 2007 stands at INR 4,074 crore.
Jharkhand HC asks for full report on underground fires in Jharia
Ranchi Express reported that taking strong exception to the Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner's report on underground here fire in Jharia, the Jharkhand High Court has asked Jharkhand government to submit a detailed report regarding threat of landslides in the area.
Deputy Commissioner in his report declared that Jharia is an unsafe zone owing to underground fire in majority of the areas. The report said “Underground fire is spreading fast in the area endangering the lives of people living there. A major accident can occur any moment causing loss of many human lives.”
Hearing a PIL filed by Mr Ajay Kumar Singh, the court of Chief Justice Mr M Karpagavniyagam and Justice Mr NN Tiwary asked the Advocate General to collect all the details regarding underground fire in Jharia and submits them to the court.
Kerala’s SIFL in expansion mode
BL reported that Kerala state owned Steel and Industrial Forgings Ltd is planning to expand capacity to accommodate a few new products. The Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization have prepared the project report.
According to officials in the Industries Department that the expansion of the company located at Thrissur is being taken up at a cost of INR 13 crore. Out of the INR 13 crore outlays for expansion ISRO will extend an interest free loan of INR 2.75 crore
SIFL engaged in the manufacture steel forgings is supplying products to a wide spectrum of customers including the Railways. Of late it has entered into strategic defense production and Indian Navy is one of its customers. The company has recently manufactured titanium gas bottles used in satellite launch vehicles and the Indian Space Research Organization has shown interest in the product.
The performance of the company has been improving and in 2006-07 with a turnover of INR 40 crore up from INR 24 crore in 2004-05 and INR 33 crore in 2005-06. It also earned a net profit of INR 3.5 crore 2006-07. In 2007-08, the company has projected a net profit of INR 5.43 crore.
China remains net coal importer in May 2007
It is reported that China imported a net 310,000 tonnes of coal in May 2007, as the pace of the China's economic growth drove up demand for fuel burned at power stations. China turned a net importer of coal in January 2007 for the first time contributing to a gain in global prices.
Data from the China’s General Administration of Customs shows that imports rose by 14% YoY to 3.74 million tonnes of coal in May 2007 and it exported 3.43 million tonnes of coal.
In January to May 2007, China's net coal imports reached 3.67 million tonnes. Imports surged by 44% YoY to 22.97 million tonnes from January to May 2007 whereas exports decreased by 28% YoY to 19.3 million tonnes.
Macquarie Research in a March 14th 2007 report said that China might export 55 million tonnes in 2007 down from 63 million in 2006 and 47 million tonnes in 2008. The report added that last year, China used 2.4 billion tonnes of coal and may consume 2.54 billion tonnes in 2007.
China burns the fuel to generate 78% of the power in the world's fastest growing major economy. China is cutting exports to ensure sufficient local supplies.
Metinvest Holdings to modernize Azovstal & Yenakiveve
Journal Staff reported that Metinvest Holding, which manages the metallurgical assets of Donetsk based CJSC System Capital Management, is planning to reconstruct the Azovstal and Yenakiyeve steel mills.
Mr Ihor Korytko head of Metinvest Holding's steel division said that the upgrade is aimed to increasing the efficiency of the production facilities and cutting production costs.
Norilsk Nickel‘s LionOre buy gets approval in Norway
Norilsk Nickel announced that its proposed acquisition of LionOre Mining International Ltd, which was notified in Norway on May 21st 2007, has been approved under the Norwegian Competition Act of March 5th 2004. Norilsk added that it continues to work closely with other applicable regulatory authorities in connection with their review of the pending acquisition.
It said that “The period for review of the offer by the Norwegian Competition Authority has expired on June 12th 2007, without an order from the Authority to submit further information. Accordingly, the offer is deemed to be approved and is not subject to further review under the Act.”
Norilsk Nickel has also announced the extension of the expiration time for its all cash offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of LionOre for CAD 27.50 per share from June 18th 2007 to June 28th 2007. Norilsk Nickel expects to mail a formal notice of extension to all LionOre shareholders on or about June 16th 2007.
Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes hikes seamless pipes prices
Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes has announced to increase the seamless pipes price by 10% effective from this month due to higher raw material production cost.
The average price after adjustment will be around USD 3,360 per tonnes.
Vallourec & Mannesmann has invested over EUR 50 million in 2006 and 2007 alone in order to step up the heat treatment facilities in the Dusseldorf Rath mill.
Algoma union raising many issues concerning contract
Canadian media reported that with negotiations in process, the executive of Local 2251 is warning members of a rocky road regarding the new collective agreement that Algoma Steel wants.
Mr Mike Da Prat president of local 2251 issued a memo to members and has called a press conference. Mr Da Prat in a letter to the union members said that "The company claims that they are looking for flexibility. What they have proposed is to require that all letters of agreement be resigned at every negotiation. This means that management will have the right to unilaterally refuse to sign any letters of agreement they decide they no longer wish to honor."
Mr Da Prat claims that all past practices regarding the negotiations will no longer apply. Issues such as 12 hour shifts, job combinations, job amalgamations, income security and other benefits could be changed on a whim by the Company. He also reminds members that the Union made concessions in 1992, 1994 and 2001 coming out of CCAA Bankruptcy protection. Over the same period of time we made millionaires out of three CEO's.
Da Prat claims the union helped Algoma Steel become the solid financially sound company before being bought by foreign interests.
This will be the first contract to be negotiated since Algoma Steel was purchased by Essar Steel. That deal closed on June 20th for CAD 1.8 billion.
Japan steel export up by 6.8% YoY in May 2007
Japan’s ministry of finance announced that Japanese steel export in May 2007 increased by 6.8% YoY to 3.176 million tonnes. The export value increased by 31.8% YoY to JPY 353.259 billion.
Japan’s steel import in May 2007 also increased by 34.2% YoY to 798,949 tonnes and the value increased by 60.1% YoY to JPY 93.039 billion.
Yusco building a New CR SS line
YIEH reported that Taiwan’s largest stainless steel maker, Yieh United Steel Corp has invested about TWD 3 billion to build a new product line for cold rolled stainless steel. The construction is likely to be completed before the end of 2007.
The new line would add 0.2 million tonnes capacity to Yusco to reach 0.6 million tonnes.
Yusco said its revenue and profit in 2007 could be affected by decreasing prices in some parts of row material in June. However, the annual profit in 2007 will hit at TWD 120 billion.
Beached MV Pasha Bulker may be broken up
Reuters reported the MV Pasha Bulker 40,000 tonne coal ship stranded on an Australian beach after fierce storms two weeks ago may be broken up for scrap rather than re floated.
The head of a salvage team working on the ship told the Daily Telegraph that “The cost of re floating the ship and fixing its damaged hull was so close to the vessel's AUD 41 million (USD 35 million) replacement price that it was not financially viable.”
The salvage team leader said that breaking up the ship would take more than six months. The ship's 11,000 to 12,000 tonnes of steel, which would fetch several million dollars, could then be melted down and recycled.
MV Pasha Bulker was swept on to a beach near the coal port of Newcastle north of Sydney on June 8th 2007 in a fierce storm. Though empty of cargo, the ship was carrying some 700 tonnes of fuel, raising concerns of environmental damage. Those fears have abated after the ship withstood subsequent storms, and calm weather returned to the area. Its crews were all rescued during the initial storm.
Hanjin Heavy to build coke oven for Hyundai Steel
Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd announced that it has signed a contract with Hyundai Steel Company. The contract amount is worth KRW 123.9 billion.
Hanjin Heavy Industries in a statement said that it would provide construction services to Hyundai Steel Company to build coke oven plants and gas refinery plant.
Kemira ARP reaches topping out stage at Ruukki's Raahe mills
It is reported that at the end of year 2006, Kemira concluded an agreement with Rautaruukki on the delivery of a regeneration plant for pickling acid used in pickling hot rolled steel at Rautaruukki's Raahe Mills.
Construction of the regeneration plant is contracted to Rakennus Miilukangas Oy, while Are Oy is responsible for the electricity and HPAC contracting of the hall. Kemira's subsidiary, Galvatek Oyis in charge of constructing the actual process plant. Installation of process equipment began on June 18th 2007 and the first trial runs are due in August 2007
Ms Päivi Mannila project manager said "The plant is the first acid regeneration plant to be built based on this technology and as a Kemira's pilot project provides us with an important reference. Thanks to recovery plants, Kemira will obtain side-stream raw material to meet the needs of the rapidly growing water treatment markets",
ARP facilitates on the spot recycling and treatment of the iron containing hydrochloric acid formed at the mill. This regeneration process is more pro environmental than before, since no harmful fractions are emitted into the water system or into the atmosphere. For Ruukki the advantages of the regeneration plant involve lower operating costs. Energy consumption will decrease due to the new process and savings will also be generated through reduced transportation costs.
CSRC OKs Baosteel Group's acquisition on Bayi's share
It is reported that China Securities Regulatory Commission has recently given its official reply to Baosteel Group on its acquisition of Bayi's 3.131958 million shares.
Baosteel said that these shares account for 53.12% of the Bayi's total shares.
(Sourced from MySteel.net)
Anglo to buy more mine assets
Reuters reported that Anglo American would expand production and buy more assets to meet strong demand for raw materials from China and India. Mr Mark Moody Stuart chairman of Anglo said that "I see us as an acquirer of things and we will continue to selectively acquire. It is not easy to find things which are value adding at present stock prices."
Recent market talk has put Anglo in the sights of acquisitive Brazilian miner CVRD, but Mr Moody Stuart said the company had received no offers from prospective buyers. He said consolidation should not itself contribute to high prices for what miners produced.
Mr Moody Stuart said "Prices come from very strong demand growth. Consolidation should if anything allows efficiencies, which should allow more rapid expansion. It is true strongly consolidated markets tend to have more stable prices but I don't think the regulator would allow consolidation beyond a reasonable point.’
Anglo had recently beaten off stiff competition to win the concession for a copper project in Peru and had agreed to spend USD 1.15 billion on a Brazilian iron ore project and planned to inject USD 3.5 billion of new investment into Africa in the next five years. Anglo American would also continue to sell its stake in gold miner AngloGold Ashanti. Last year it raised USD 1 billion by cutting its stake to 42 from 51% as part of a phased exit strategy.
CVRD, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto dominate the sea borne iron ore market. Anglo is in fourth place and is trying to grow.
Russia & Ukraine sign economic cooperation plan until 2010-11
The prime ministers of Russia and Ukraine signed a program for economic cooperation until 2010 during a session of a bilateral committee in Moscow in Russia.
Mr Mikhail Fradkov prime minister of Russia told a news conference following the session that the program concerned over 50 measures in all areas of economic cooperation including those aimed at removing mutual restrictions. He said "Trade between the two countries has been developing actively and the range of goods is expanding.”
Mr Viktor Yanukovych prime minister of Ukraine said that he is satisfied with bilateral trade. He said "This year trade has grown 38% to USD 7.9 billion.”
In the first ten months of 2006, bilateral trade between Russia and Ukraine has crossed USD 20 billion up by 19% YoY. Fuel and energy remains a key sphere for economic cooperation. For Russia Ukraine is a key country for oil and gas transits to Europe. Russia pumps 15% of its oil exports and over 80% of gas through Ukraine. Over the past year Russia and Ukraine have increased exports to each other 30% and 70% respectively.
Maersk Line acknowledged Shipping Line of Year 2007
Exim News Service reported that Maersk Line has been acknowledged as the Shipping Line of the Year 2007 by International Freighting Weekly magazine. The winner was judged by a panel selected from IFW subscribers a group of around 200 freight forwarding and shipping executives. The awards, considered the Oscars of the transport and logistics provider industry were handed out in London on June 18th 2007.
According to a Maersk Line release this award demonstrates the industry’s recognition of its continuing improvements in customer service.
Mr Flemming Dalgaard MD of Maersk Line in the UK said that "This is a great achievement for Maersk Line and is a clear indication of the good progress made by our people throughout our global business to provide excellent products and services to all our customers. In Maersk Line we constantly strive to provide a consistently high quality service and despite the challenges of last year, this award confirms that we are back on the right track in the eyes of the industry."
Philippines updates rules for FTAA mining contracts
It is reported that Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources has issued a new fiscal regime for foreign owned mining projects through the Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement.
Under the new reform, signed Mr Angelo Reyes Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, there will be a single benefit sharing scheme where the Philippines government and mining contractor each take 50% of the net mining revenues after the recovery of capital investment. Mr Reyes said that "We are now working on the various guidelines for the simplification of procedures in the grant of mining permits."
Other amendments under the new fiscal regime include changes to the tax and royalty schemes, allowing a recovery period of longer than five years for large projects and allowing the contractor to avail of the incentives under the Omnibus Investments Code provided there are sufficient ore reserves and mine life.
Under the previous regime there were three options available to FTAA projects. These were the Cumulative Net Cast Flow option, the Additional Profits Option and the Net Mining Revenue option.
NLMK to sell Lipestkcombank to Bank Zenit
Novolipetsk Steel announced that it has agreed to sell its 50.08% stake in OJSC Lipetskcombank to OJSC Bank Zenit for approximately USD 44 million. Deutsche Bank advised NLMK on this disposal. The parties expect to complete the transaction by the end of Q3 2007.
OJSC Lipetskcombank is based in Lipetsk. The bank provides general banking services for corporate and retail customers in accordance with its general license from the Central Bank of Russia a license for foreign currency operations and a license for brokerage activity. The capital base of Lipetskcombank as at January 1st 2007 was approximately USD 44 million. The net income for 2006 amounted to USD 6.5 million.
This divestment is in line with NLMK’s previously announced internal restructuring plan. One of key steps of this plan is to optimize the asset portfolio of NLMK.
Western Canadian to sell 17 million shares
Western Canadian Coal Corp announced that it has entered into an agreement with GMP Securities LP to sell 17 million units of the company in a private placement for CAD 39.95 million. The placing is on a marketed underwritten basis at a price of CAD 2.35 per share.
GMP also has an option to purchase up to 2.20 million additional units at the same price for up to CAD 5.17 million up to 24 hours prior to the offering's closing date, the mining company said.
Other participants in the offering include Western's main shareholder, Cambrian Mining Plc who Western says has agreed to subscribe for up to CAD 10 million worth of the shares.
The proceeds will be used to repay about 19.6 million of the Wolverine project debt facility and for general corporate purposes including working capital the company said. The offering is expected to close on or about June 28 upon receiving regulatory approval.
RZHD & SUEK ink agreement for Vanino-Sovetskaya Gavan transport hub
Russian Railways and the Siberian Coal and Energy Company have announced their joint participation in the development of the Vanino Sovetskaya Gavan transport hub. This agreement was reached during the visit of the heads of these two companies to the Khabarovsky region. The protocol on intentions was signed up to define the parameters of the cooperation between RZHD and SUEK as of the cargo transportation to Vanino Port and increased capacity of the railway.
SUEK will finish the construction of the terminal in the middle of 2008. The terminal will be able to handle up to 12 million tons of coal. With respect to the increase in the freight flow from Russia its capacity can be extended to 16 to 20 million ton a year.
The SUEK is the nation's largest coal producer and the only Russian company that is among the top ten world's coal leaders. Its subsidiaries and affiliates of the company are located in Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Primorsky Territories, Kemerovo, Irkutsk and Chita Areas, the Republics of Khakasia and Buryatia. SUEK supplies 31% of energy coal on the domestic market and accounts for roughly a quarter of Russian coal exports.
The RZHD is the 100% state owned railways monopoly of Russia, which handles around 80% of all transportation in Russia, handles 40% of all freight in Russia amounting to 1.3 billion tons annually and over 41% of passenger rail transportation.
Ironclad’s IPO oversubscribed
It is reported that Ironclad Mining's USD 20 million IPO of shares has closed two weeks early and was over subscribed.
Ironclad is being floated as a development vehicle for Trafford Resource’s Wilcherry Hill iron ore project, 30 Kilometer north of Kimba in Western South Africa. Trafford has defined indicated and inferred resources of 44 million tonnes of crystalline magnetite deposits at Wilcherry Hill, with an exploration target of 300 million tonnes to 600 million tonnes. An independent desktop study released by Trafford in March said that a mining operation could be set up at the site for as little as USD 188 million.
Ironcald will acquire an initial 50% of the project with the right to earn up to 80% by spending USD 10 million. It will be responsible for ongoing iron ore exploration and definition drilling, feasibility studies into the development of an iron ore business based on the Wilcherry Hill deposits and for subsequent construction, mining, treatment and marketing operations.
Foundation promotes 2 senior VP in management restructuring
Foundation Coal Holdings Inc announced that two of its senior VP have been appointed to positions of increased responsibility. Under the new management restructuring, Mr Kurt D Kost will take on the role of executive VP and Mr Jim J Bryja will assume the position of senior VP operations.
Mr Kost will assume on an interim basis, oversight responsibility for the Planning and Engineering Group and will continue with duties involved in materials management, general equipment management and process improvement. Additionally, he will work closely with Mr James F Roberts chairman & CEO of Foundation’s on strategic planning initiatives and become more involved with investor related activities.
The restructuring will transition Mr Bryja from a prior four year post, directing eastern operations to executive oversight of Foundation’s 13 affiliated mining operations located in Northern Appalachia, Central Appalachia, and Powder River Basin. As senior VP operations, he will direct the management of underground and surface mining production. Mr Bryja has 25 years of experience in the coal industry and has served in various management positions within Foundation.
Foundation Coal Holdings Inc through its affiliates is a major US coal producer with 13 coal mines and related facilities in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Through its subsidiaries Foundation Coal employs approximately 3,000 people and produces approximately 72 million tons annually, largely for utilities generating electricity.
TMK participated in the Latin American Petroleum Show
It is reported that Russian pipe major TMK, for the first time, took part in the XVIII international Latin American Petroleum Show which was held on June 12th to 14th 2007 at Maracaibo in Venezuela
.
TMC presented to the participants and guests of the show a range of tube products made by the enterprises of the company and offered to their attention the latest innovations in the sphere of hi tech pipes of the petroleum range.
Latin American Petroleum Show is a key forum specialized in the oil and gas industry Venezuela and South America. The event is traditionally held every year. More than 900 companies attended the exhibition from 40 countries around the world.
