Top miners squandered $200 billion during boom

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on Friday that the state of New South Wales announced a 60-day freeze on new exploration licences for coal, coal seam gas and petroleum in a push to resolve the escalating conflict between farmers, miners and conservationists over land use. The need for a moratorium was questioned by the state's mining industry, which said billions of dollars in investment were at stake, but it said it broadly supported the development of a new approach to avoid conflict over valuable land.

The West Virginia Governor's Independent Investigation Panel announced Thursday its findings that the explosion that killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch coal mine on April 5, 2010, was preventable. J. Davitt McAteer, the former head of MSHA, who headed the state investigation, told the news media "a great deal went wrong. A great many problems occurred that led to this disaster."

Global Earth Energy and its Texas-based joint venture partner Modern Coal announced on Thursday the offer by Pacific Coast Plaza Inc. to purchase 100,000 metric tons of coal per month for a period of 36 months. The price of coal is approximately $85 per metric ton valuing the deal at over $300 million. The current plan is to have the coal loaded on barges from a suitable port yet to be determined.

Bloomberg reports on Thursday that GVK Power & Infrastructure, a builder of airports and utilities controlled by Indian billionaire GV Krishna Reddy, is in talks to borrow as much as $850m to fund the purchase of two Hancock Prospecting coal mines according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. GVK will use the money to pay Hancock $500m for equity in the mines and another $350m as compensation for costs incurred by the Australian company for running them.

Last year's death of 29 miners in one of the worst mining disasters in US history "could have been prevented," a panel concluded Thursday, blasting the owner for lax safety at the Upper Big Branch mine. The report into the West Virginia blast, the deadliest US coal accident since 1970, also found that Massey Energy Co. miners lacked adequate training in safety and called for tougher enforcement powers for US federal and state mine inspectors.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- International Coal Group (NYSE:ICO) hit a new 52-week high Thursday as it is currently trading at $14.52, above its previous 52-week high of $14.51 with 6.9 million shares traded as of 1:21 p.m. ET. Average volume has been 13

Commodities trader Glencore's bumper public offering has increased interest in Hong Kong listings from across the mining sector and will prove a welcome boost to the bourse, a senior executive at the exchange said. The world's largest diversified commodities trader is set to make its market debut in London and Hong Kong next week, in what could be a record listing, with Glencore [GLEN.UL] hoping to raise $11 billion.

(RTTNews) - The UK market is trading higher in afternoon trading Thursday, amid some positive earnings news as well as consolidation in commodities prices.

Coal India, the world's largest coal producer, is on a high. The state-run company is set to pick up a 15% stake in a joint venture with US-based coal firm Peabody Energy's $600 million mining project in Australia. The deal size could be upwards of $100 million. Officials privy to the discussion said both the companies were mulling over the exact details and were to form a joint venture company to tackle the Wilkie Creek coal mine, in Queensland, Australia, which is owned by Peabody.