The US coal industry just had the worst week in years

A proposed open-cast coal mine on West Coast conservation land has gained resource consents because of its economic benefits. West Coast Regional Council released the decision yesterday to grant consents for a subsidiary of Perth-based Bathurst Resources Ltd to mine 200 hectares in the Mt Rochfort Conservation Area on Denniston Plateau, near Westport.

In a sign that consolidation in the uranium sector is gathering pace, world number one uranium producer Cameco announced on Friday it is extending a $527 million cash offer to shareholders of Hathor Exploration, after talks with the board of the junior explorer failed to result in a deal.

Oilsands Quest stock was trading below the rights offer price of 20c at the open on Friday after announcing it was extending a rights offer to advance its Axe Lake oil sands project in Saskatchewan a second time. The company is attempting to raise $60 million after it was forced to go it alone following a fruitless 11-month quest to find a partner or buyer.

Working in a mine is more dangerous than being a police officer in America, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Reuters reports 50,000 protesters battled police in Chile's capital on Thursday, the second day of a two-day strike against unpopular President Sebastian Pinera. A recent poll put the right-wing leader's approval rating at only 26%, below even that of dictator General Pinochet, who ruled the country for 17 years from 1973. The protests follows recent strikes in the copper sector over pay and a campaign against a massive coal mine on an island in Patagonia amid accusations that billionaire Pinera’s shareholding in the developer, Copec, constitutes a serious conflict of interest.

FT reports iron ore prices hit a three-month high above $180 a tonne on Thursday as supply outages and strong demand from China underpinned the steelmaking commodity. Started in 2008, derivatives trading in iron ore is up fourfold this year after setting a record in July, but he world’s top three miners – BHP Billiton, Vale and Rio Tinto – control nearly 70% of the 1 billion tonne annual seaborne trade and dominate price talks. BHP this week announced record profits on back of earnings from iron ore, its biggest division, which jumped 122% to $13.3 billion and CEO Marius Kloppers said unlike the situation in coal, global iron ore supplies are being 'overestimated'.

Interfax reports Russia state-owned diamond miner Alrosa is up 22% on the country's trading board for unlisted stocks since it was first quoted there on July 18. The price of US$31,495 per share, implies a market value of $8.6 billion. Alrosa accounts for around 25% of world output and for the full year sales of $4.7 billion is expected. The secretive firm has been feeding the market more information recently in anticipation of a 2012 public offering that seeks to raise up to $3 billion.

Every day up to 400 trucks leave the coal stockpile Kohlenhuck of Deutsche Steinkohle in Kamp-Lintfort, Germany. A special FRUTIGER De-Mucking System washes the trucks before they enter the public road.

The U.S. State Department's final environmental review of a proposed Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline will affirm an earlier finding that the project will have "limited adverse environmental impacts," The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.