Explosion in Chinese coal mine leaves 32 dead 

BusinessLive reports that while acid mine drainage from disused gold mines in the Johannesburg area of South Africa is well documented, according to a new study AMD from nearly 6,000 abandoned mines is acidifying rivers and streams, raising metals levels and killing fish. The study by World Wide Fund for Nature SA and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research showed that South Africa’s heavy dependence on coal for electricity had a “devastating” effect on the country’s water resources, particularly in light of the fact that only 12% of the country’s land area generated 50% of the country’s river flow. The most affected river was the Olifants which flows through the Kruger National Park in a region of the country where coal mining dates back to the 1890s.

A joint venture between uber-miner Rio Tinto and Chinese partner Chinalco was finalized on Friday. The JV, called CRTX, has been officially registered and cleared to do business in China. The new company's priority will be exploring for copper, with plans to expand into coal and potash, Rio Tinto stated in a news release.

Energy Efficiency News reports internet giant Google has quietly announced that it is to retire its ‘Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal’ or RE<C initiative, which it launched in 2007 saying "other institutions seem better positioned than Google to take this work to the next level." Google spearheaded various projects and made investments in companies working on potentially ‘breakthrough’ technologies, including $168 million for a solar tower project in California and geothermal mapping. As part of its broader renewable energy programme Google has made several investments totaling more than $850 million in the US and Germany.

London-listed Coal of Africa and various environmental groups buried the hatchet on Thursday to work together to preserve Mapungubwe in northern South Africa near the company's controversial Vele opencast project. Construction of the coking coal mine was halted and the Australian company fined $1.3 million because it did not comply with aspects of environmental laws, but the green coalition has now agreed to drop all legal action. Coal of Africa Limited closed at 49.52 pence in London on Thursday up 8.2% on the previous day.

The US coal industry has settled on an unlikely candidate to build America's largest coal terminal. Bellingham is a small coastal city 32 kilometers south of the Canadian border known for being one of the few cities in the US to rely solely on solar and hydro-generated electricity and its innovative building efficiency program. Plans are now underway for a new $500 million bulk dry goods facility to ship 28 million tonnes of coal and potentially 8 million tonnes of potash to Asian markets and HuffingtonPost reports the plans have sparked a fierce fight in this otherwise quiet college town of 81,000 residents.

Reuters reports the board of Brazil's Vale has approved a $6 billion expansion of its Moatize coal project in Mozambique to lift output to 22 million tonnes per year from the 11 million tonnes it expects to mine initially with first production forecast for the second half of 2014. The country's Tete province is believed to hold one of the world's largest untapped coal reserves that has been compared with Australia's coal-rich Bowen Basin. Mozambique suffered a 15-year long civil war that ended in 1992 and remains one of the poorest countries in the world, but the ex-Portuguese colony 7% economic growth this year is forecast to accelerate thanks to billions in mining and infrastructure spending. The Mozambique metical is also the world's best-performing currency.

Vancouver-based junior Prophecy Coal (TSE:PCY), which moved to the TSX main board last month, has landed a major deal to build a coal-fired power plant in Mongolia. The company said yesterday its subsidiary, Eat Energy Development LLC, has received a licence from the Mongolian Energy Regulatory Authority to construct the 600-MW Chandgana power plant. It is the first thermal power plant licence to be issued by the Mongolian government. Coal for the Chandgana mine-mouth power plant will be supplied from Prophecy’s Chandgana Tal ("Tal") Deposit, for which the company has already obtained a mining licence. Tal contains 141 million tonnes of measured coal and is located 9 km north of Prophecy’s Chandgana Khavtgai project, a deposit with over 1 billion tonnes of measured and indicated coal, Prophecy states.

Boardroom chairs are being shifted at two large diversified mining companies, Vancouver-based Teck Resources and Brazilian powerhouse Vale SA, the world's second largest miner. Teck announced yesterday that Marcia Smith, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, will replace Doug Horswell as Senior Vice President, Sustainability and External Affairs. Horswell, staging into retirement, will work half-time in the company's Zinc and Health program. Meanwhile, Vale announced that coming this Thursday, CEO Murilo Ferreira will submit to the Board of Directors a proposal for a new structure of the company's Executive Board. Among the changes, the most high-profile is the replacement of CFO Guilherme Cavalcanti with Tito Martins, who currently runs Vale’s base metals division.

The arrival of four tiger cubs in Tadoba – one of the country's oldest national parks – has brought cheers to wildlife lovers. However, rampant coal mining in Chandrapur and its surrounding areas pose a grave threat to tiger conservation and protection reports Hindustan Times. The Indian government has allotted more than six new coal mines in the periphery of Tadoba tiger reserve where already half a dozen coal mines are operating. Tadoba tiger reserve was in the news recently for better big cat conservation and birth of 32 tiger cubs in the area since January 2010. India's tiger population has dwindled from tens of thousands a century ago to a mere 1,411 according to the last census conducted in 2008.