CHART: Trump $500 billion will do very little for global mining

A new survey out Tuesday shows South Africa’s appeal for mining investment has declined dramatically since 2006 and the country now ranks a lowly 67th out of 79 countries in the study.

The Scotland Herald reports plans to build a $4.6 billion coal-fired power station in the UK with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology suffered another serious setback this week after the French firm that operates near-by reactors warned that the proposed coal plant endangers the safety of the nuclear facility.

FLSmidth, a global engineering company out of Denmark, is planning a A$267 million acquisition of Ludowici Limited, an Brisbane-based company that manufactures coal centrifuges, vibrating screens and complementary wear resistant products.

Platts news service is reporting that Kinder Morgan, a pipeline company, and Ambre Energy will submit proposals to build coal export facilities at Port St. Helens, Oregon.

The debate over the use of coal in Britain is heating up. Reuters reports a British company, Clean Coal UK, is planning to mine an estimated billion tonnes of coal off the Welsh coast using underground coal gasification.

In what is likely to be upbeat year for Australian mining M&A, some large Asian and U.S. companies are ready to bet on the country's coal, iron ore and uranium assets to meet booming demand for power.

Novinite reported that on Saturday, miners at Bulgaria's state owned Maritsa Iztok Mines launched a symbolic protest, warning that effective strike was in store, after talks failed Friday.

The Australian reports the Queensland government is going after speculative prospecting by what the state treasurer termed two-dollar shell mining companies, slapping the industry with $375 million in additional fees. Under the radical new rules competitive cash-bidding auctions for mining exploration permits will replace the flat $1,030 application fee in force currently.

Patriot Coal was beaten down more than 12% on Friday after announcing it will cut production of coking coal due to weakening global demand.