DRC says Ok for Glencore to take full control of Mutanda copper mine

Xstrata Plc is looking to offload a portion of its $6.4 billion Wandoan coal project in Australia, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Fortescue Metals was up 5% Monday on rumours that Canadian coal and copper/zinc miner Teck Resources is making a play for the third-largest iron ore producer in Australia.

An Indian conglomerate is planning to build Queensland's biggest coal mine near Rockhampton in the state's central region, including a new town, runway, railway and port facilities.

Canadian miner giant Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) reported Thursday a record annual profit of $2.7 billion, up by half from 2010, fuelled mainly by higher coal prices.

BHP Billiton raked in US$18.7 billion in the half-year ended December 31, 2011 — an 8.3% increase in Underlying EBITDA from the second half of 2010.

Russia's state railway firm Russian Railways plans to build a train line to transport coal in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, with $1.7 billion of investment for a first phase due to be operating by 2017, Indonesia's government said on Tuesday.

The company will immediately mothball four mines in central Appalachia, plans to idle two more by early next year and scale back output at other mines as US coal demand for electricity generation wanes.

South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, appears to be moving away from nationalization of the mining industry to reassure foreign investors but is considering new taxes and "targeted interventions" in the sector, particularly platinum mines.

According to a new European Wind Energy Association report a record 71% of all the new power generating capacity installed in the Europe Union in 2011 came from solar panels, offshore and onshore wind turbines and other renewable energy sources. This at the same time as the world's largest clean coal power station project appears stuck in the starting blocks.