Japan’s JFE Steel Corp. said Friday it will set up a joint iron ore processing plant in southern Oman with a Bahrain steelmaker.
The joint venture is capitalized at some 280 million dollars, of which 40 pct will be put up by the unit of JFE Holdings Inc. and the remainder by Foulath.
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A North Sea pipeline which supplies around 40 percent of Britain’s oil and gas as well as international markets will shut down within hours because of a strike, operator BP said Saturday.
The Forties pipeline in Grangemouth, west of Edinburgh, Scotland, is being closed as a knock-on effect of industrial action by 1,200 workers at a neighbouring oil refinery in a row over pensions.
It is the first time in more than 70 years that a British refinery is being closed by a strike.
The pipeline cannot function without electricity and steam generated by the refinery, which has already closed ahead of the strike Sunday and Monday.
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Indonesia’s state-run power firm PLN has signed two engineering procurement contracts worth $888.4 million with Chinese companies for construction of coal-fired power plants, a news report said on Saturday.
The first contract worth $642 million was signed Friday for the 700-Megawatt Tanjugn Awar-Awar plant in East Java, with a consortium of China National Machinery Equipment Corp. (Sinomac), China National Electric Equipment (CNEEC) and local firm PT Penta Adi Samudra.
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China closed 83 small coal-fired generators with an aggregate capacity of 4.7 million kilowatts during the first three and half months of this year, Xinhua News Agency reported Friday, quoting the National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC.
Zhao Yinong, an official with the State Energy Administration under the NDRC, said the closed capacity accounted for 36% of the 13 million-kilowatt target set this year to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Xinhua.
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When a petrochemical company in China needed to lift an 812-ton piece of equipment into place at a new plant a while ago, it called on Wisconsin-based Manitowoc for a crane that soared more than 17 stories high.
The mechanical behemoth put the industrial-oil apparatus, itself 112 feet high, in place in less than 30 minutes.
The project was part of a massive construction project to expand the plant’s capacity for producing fuel and kerosene.
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Australia’s national competition regulator approved the use of coal export quotas at Newcastle port until Dec 31 to avoid an increase in costs for mining companies from ships queuing to load the fuel.
The regulator was concerned that any longer term use of coal export quotas beyond the end of the year could curb investment in the coal export transportation system, Graeme Samuel, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
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A very slow permitting process is hindering the growth of West Virginia’s coal mining industry, said international coal executives gathered in Wheeling this week.
The issue was among those discussed as planners for the International Coal Preparation Congress met at Oglebay Park to prepare for the congress, set for 2010 in Lexington, Ky.
‘‘The biggest constraint to the future of West Virginia coal is the permitting process,’’ said Peter Belker of Arch Coal Inc. ‘‘The market is there, the coal is there and the jobs could be there.’’
He added that if the state’s permitting issues were resolved, West Virginia could play ‘‘a huge role’’ in the future of the coal industry.
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Central African Mining (CAMEC) has reported a ’significant’ coal discovery in Mozambique, which it says will help the company profit from current high prices for the commodity.
The first phase of a drilling programme in the southern African country’s Tete region delineated around 195m tonnes of coal, CAMEC said.
“We are greatly encouraged by the initial results of the exploration programme,” chief executive Andrew Groves said.
“With China’s demand for imported coal alone having tripled since 2003, the growing global demand for coal represents a significant opportunity for CAMEC given these initial results and our other coal assets in South Africa.”
Indian government for expanded mining and exploration of mineral, once Indian mining company was joint venture with Tata steel. This is since the two firms can leverage their synergy in the field of mining and processing of minerals extracted from such mines to shore up domestic availability of the finished products.
Official sources told Business Line here that at a time when the world’s metals and mineral prices have been on a rollercoaster ride, benefiting several metal and mineral producers and exporters, the proposed joint venture move would help meet the demand for raw materials for the finished products industry domestically, besides augmenting avenues for third country exports.
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Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. announced Friday plans to acquire stakes in two mining projects in Chile from Antofagasta PLC amid booming demand for copper.
Marubeni said it has agreed to pay a total of 1.31 billion dollars for a 30 percent stake in both of the projects. Including development costs, it plans to invest about 1.9 billion dollars.
“Through this investment, Marubeni will be able to make a significant contribution toward securing copper resources for the national interest of Japan,” it said in a statement.
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