Low coal prices force Glencore to shut Australia’s Tahmoor mine

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.

Los Angeles Times published a photo essay on May 14 looking at child labour in the coal mines located in India: "Times South Asia bureau chief Mark Magnier and photojournalist Daniel Berehulak report on the mining situation in the Jaintia Hills district of India, located in the northeastern state of Meghalaya. Perhaps as many as thousands of underage workers as young as 8, lured by the wages, leave school to work in coal mines under perilous conditions."

Franco Nevada reported an adjusted net income of US$21.4 million or 18-cents per share for the first quarter, a 157% increase over the adjusted net income of US$8.3 million or 7-cents per share for the first-quarter 2010. Net income for the first quarter of 2011 was $21.2 million or 18-cents per share, which included a $5.6 million gain, $6.5 million in forex losses and $1.7 million in losses recorded from the equity accounting of Franco's investment in Gold Wheaton prior to the acquisition, which closed on March 14, 201

U.S. number three coal producer and supplier of some 4% of the country’s electricity announced a successful $297.7m bid for an additional tract at its Antelope mine in Wyoming. The new lease would add approximately 350m tons of mineable coal to Antelope, doubling its reserves and adding 12 years of production. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management also recently announced a June 15, 2011 sale date for the West Antelope II South Coal Tract, which contains approximately 56 million mineable tons, according to BLM estimates.

German technology and German know-how are to help the Colombian coalmining sector, underground mining in particular, to become safer and increase its production. A strategic co-operation is planned that is to comprise not only a safety partnership but also technology transfer. Juan Gabriel Ceballos Campuzano is the owner of Colombia’s old-established family mining firm Soc Central de Activos Mineros, based in the Colombian capital of Bogotá.

Mongolia’s SouthGobi Resources said that its fuel supplier claimed a force majeur after Russia cut supplies to the country to a mere 10,000 tonnes. The company said its flagship coal mine, Ovoot Tolgoi, has enough fuel to last 45 days under normal operations or around three months if it scaled back production. SouthGobi also stated that it has coal in inventory and customer trucks can be fuelled in China, a short distance away from the mine.

Taipei Times reports: Brazilian mining giant Vale opened a new US$1.7 billion coal mine in Mozambique yesterday, tapping the southern African country’s thermal and coking coal reserves of about 23 billion tonnes. Vale plans to start production in July and export 1 million tonnes of coal from the US$1.7 billion project this year, ramping up production to 11 million tonnes in a few years — and, local officials hope, boosting Mozambique’s current economic growth of 6.5 percent.

Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) announced today that employees at its Fording River operation in southeastern British Columbia have ratified a new five-year agreement, replacing an agreement which expired on April 30, 2011. "Our discussions with the union were very productive and we are pleased to have reached a new five-year collective agreement at our Fording River operation," said Bill Fleming, Vice President, Operations and Engineering.

Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) today announced it has been added to the Fortune 500 list 2011, Fortune Magazine's annual ranking of America's largest companies by revenue. Cliffs is ranked at No. 477, with annual revenues of $4.7 billion for 2010. "We are pleased to attain this ranking in the prestigious Fortune 500," said Joseph A. Carrabba, Cliffs' chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We consider it another significant milestone in our growth."