India to tap into Russia’s undeveloped coal, iron ore deposits

Watch this documentary about two of the biggest draglines ever built. The Captain was the first of the big draglines, built by Marion Power Shovel for the Captain Mine in Illinois. It was then rivalled by the Big Muskie, owned by the Central Ohio Coal Company.

Rio Tinto is disappointed with the Australian government's carbon tax proposal, warning it will inevitably hinder investment and jobs growth in Australia without reducing global carbon emissions. Rio Tinto believes the government's carbon tax will undermine Australia's international competitiveness and hurt the nation's export competing industries.

David Knox, Santos chief executive, says the expected skills shortage has not yet affected his company. Picture: Calum Robertson Source: News Limited SANTOS chief executive David Knox, whose company is building one of the three $15 billion-plus coal-seam

Police have detained eight people in east China's Shandong Province in connection with a coal mine fire that has trapped 28 miners for more than two weeks, local authorities said Saturday. A total of 91 people were working underground in the Fangbei Coal Mine in the province's city of Zaozhuang on July 6 when an air compression device located in a parking lot 255 meters underground caught fire.

China's coal imports dropped 11.8 percent in the first half of the year to 70.49 million tonnes while exports also fell 13.7 percent to 8.75 million tonnes. During the period, the nation recorded a net import of 61.74 million tonnes of coal. The figure fell 11.5 percent year-on-year amid surging international coal prices, according to figures released Friday by the China National Coal Association.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has promised that Queensland coal mines will be compensated for losses caused by a carbon tax, saying pollution intensive areas like Gladstone will receive significant compensation.

Canada’s mining industry continues to rally from the recent global recession, with this year’s production currently exceeding that of 2010, reports government department Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

JSW Energy Ltd., the Indian power producer controlled by the billionaire Jindal family, delayed expansion of an electricity project because of high coal costs. The company will shelve a planned 3,200-megawatt expansion at a plant in Ratnagiri in the western state of Maharashtra as it waits for coal-pricing “clarity” from Indonesia and Australia, Chief Executive Officer Lalit Kumar Gupta said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday.

Workers at BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP)’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s biggest, began striking as coal miners at the company’s Australian operations prepared to escalate industrial action. The strike by all union members at the northern Chilean mine began at 8 p.m. New York time yesterday with the changing of a shift and will run through to 8 p.m. today, which may lead to about 3,000 metric tons of lost copper production, union leader Jose Vidal said by telephone. Image of BHP's Escondida mine is by BHP Billiton.