China helps Pakistan

China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMEC) is conducting a feasibility study for Pakistan’s Sindh Coal Authority on developing a mine in southern Pakistan, in the Sonda-Jherruk coalfield. Sindh Coal Authority told Dow Jones the mine was expected to produce 1 Mt/y of thermal coal. Reserves in the field are estimated at 7,000 Mt

Favourable court ruling on Cheviot pit

Last August, Fording Canadian Coal Trust advised that Elk Valley Coal had received the Federal Court of Canada ruling with respect to two applications for judicial review of approvals for the development of the Cheviot pit at its Cardinal River operations. The ruling held that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) appropriately exercised its duties with due diligence in its assessment review of the project and dismissed the applications. The applications were filed by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund on behalf of five environmental groups.

The Cheviot project was approved in 2000 following a thorough and lengthy environmental assessment process that spanned eight years. The Federal Court determined that the DFO properly applied regulatory process to the project according to law and that Elk Valley Coal secured all necessary provincial mining and environmental approvals and complied with all regulatory requirements in the development of the project.

Development of the Cheviot project at Cardinal River operations is substantially complete and coal production is underway. Fording anticipates that the full annualized production rate of 2.8 Mt/y will be achieved at the mine before the end of the year.

Prairie State Energy Campus receives mine permit

In the USA, Peabody Energy’s Prairie State Energy Campus has received its mine permit from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The Lively Grove Mine is being developed to annually produce about 6 Mt of coal for the planned $2 billion-plus Prairie State Energy Campus. “The mine-mouth model enables Prairie State to collapse the fuel transportation supply chain and drive down energy costs,” Peabody Energy said. “We’re continuing a steady march toward development of Prairie State as a major Midwest supplier of low-cost electricity, and we’ve achieved a number of milestones in permitting, co-owner selection and engineering design,” said President of Generation Development Rick A. Bowen.

Prairie State will be among the cleanest coal plants in America, and is a project that enjoys strong local support. According to Peabody, more than 80% of Southern Illinois residents support its development. Aside from providing clean, low-cost energy, the project will create more than 450 permanent jobs and add nearly $100 million in annual economic benefits to

the regional economy. It is being developed by Peabody Energy and the Prairie State Interest Group. The Group includes six midwest electricity suppliers that own nearly half of the project, including: Soyland Power Cooperative in Illinois; Northern Illinois Municipal Power Agency; Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission; Kentucky Municipal Power Authority; Indiana Municipal Power Agency; and Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative in Michigan. _

Power plants need to embrace new technology

The Sierra Club reports that the “day after President Bush signed an energy bill giving massive subsidies for new coal-fired power plants, public health concerns stopped the largest coal-plant proposal in the USA dead in its tracks. Hearing Officer Janet B. Thompson ruled that the Thoroughbred power plant, proposed in Kentucky, hadn’t considered the most modern pollution reducing technology.” She found that the proposed plant wasn’t going far

enough to reduce soot and smog pollution. The 1,500 MW plant is the largest new proposed coal-burning plant in the country and is part of a plan to build 100 new plants in the next decade.

"This is a victory for all Americans who breathe the air, and shows that the Bush administration is moving in the wrong direction with their misguided energy policy. We need clean energy solutions, not more dirty coal plants that put our children at risk," said Bruce Nilles, Midwest Representative of the Sierra Club. He added, "Talking about ‘cleaner coal’

is like talking about ‘cleaner cigarettes,’-you still don’t want your kids breathing in the pollution from either. It is high time for Peabody to abandon its plans to build an out-dated coal plan and instead invest in innovative 21st Century energy solutions."

According to the Sierra Club, “Kentucky residents challenged Peabody’s proposal in 2001 because it would have added dangerous levels of soot and smog, endangering public health. Around the country, citizens have also raised concerns about how the new coal-rush will put more toxic mercury into our air and water. The Peabody plant would add 12% more mercury in a state where all waterbodies are already laden with dangerous levels of mercury.  Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that puts children at risk of learning disabilities and developmental disorders, and one in six U.S. women already has enough mercury in her body to put a baby at risk.”

China’s coal advance

In the first 8 months of 2005, China produced 1,3048 Mt of ROM coal, some 97 Mt (8%) morethan in the same period of 2004. These figues come from the State Administration of Coalmine Safety. Of the total, 660.3 Mt were produced by state-owned coalmines, which increased their output by some 57 Mt (9.5%) year on year. Local state-owned coalmines saw a fall of 9.6 Mt (4.9%) to185.9 Mt,while the outputof township coalmines wasup, despite plans to close unsafe operations, by49.6 Mt(about 12.1%) year on year to458.6 Mt.