Carrier Vibrating Equipment announces the opening of a manufacturing facility in Shanghai, China. The new 8,400 square meter manufacturing facility, established under Carrier Vibrating Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., is located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. Peter Zhou has been hired as Manufacturing Manager. “Although Carrier has operated in China and other Far East markets for many years, our expanding customer base in the region required a direct manufacturing presence,” says Brian Trudel, President and CEO of Carrier. “The new Shanghai facility will significantly enhance our ability to service clients across the Pacific Rim.”  The new state-of-the-art manufacturing center will support local service and sales personnel that have operated in China for over 20 years. Carrier Vibrating Equipment is a leader in vibratory process solutions and internationally recognized for its pioneering work in the field of vibratory technology.  For over 50 years, Carrier has developed processing equipment to meet the needs of a broad range of industries including chemicals, synthetics, foundry, glass, food, explosives, wood, coal, metals, pharmaceuticals, scrap, and recycling.  Contact Glenda Durnil at 502-969-3171 or e-mail gdurnil@carriervibrating.com

China’s largest coal-fired power plant at Zhejiang Province, equipped with 1,000-megawatt generating units is now in operation.  The project cost an estimated $2.1 billion. The world’s largest plant features ultra-supercritical technologies. The first two generating units started production last December 2006.

Tata Steel Ltd, New Delhi, has agreed with Australia’s Riverdale Mining Ltd. to buy 35 percent of its coal project in Mozambique for $88 million. Tata Steel and Riversdale will have a joint venture to mine coking coal for steel production and develop a thermal coal project in Mozambique where the Australian miner holds rights to coal reserves over 1,120 square miles.  The joint venture operation will be limited to about 1.2 billion tons of the total reserves in the area.

UC Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Samruk Holdings to establish a joint venture to develop coal assets in Kazakhstan, with annual production of 60 million tons.    The companies are targeting the Ekubastuzskyoe coal field in the area of the Bogatyr and Severny coal mines in the Pavlodar region. Coal reserves are estimated at 4.5 billion tons.  Coal production is about 42Mt per year with intentions to develop mining capacity to 60 Mtpa.

Runge has acquired GeoGAS, an Australian-owned consulting and contracting services company for the coal mine and coal seam methane industries.  GeoGAS supplies laboratory, consulting and contracting services.  It also provides support for mine operations as well as planning and project tasks.  Management and employees of GeoGAS will join Runge, making the total number of employees globally to 278.  GeoGAS has offices in New South Wales and Queensland.

Peabody Energy is in discussions with several Chinese coal companies, possibly the Shenhua Group, to explore open-cut mining projects.  Peabody may also become involved with underground coal projects.  Peabody and Shenhua Group are collaborating on coal projects outside China, notably Australia.

CS Energy’s Kogan Creek coal-fired power station has opened, generating 750 megawatts of energy into Queensland’s power grid and demonstrating a number of environmental features.  The A$1.2 billion station is air-cooled, uses 10 percent of the water of conventional power stations and produces 22 percent less emissions.  The station will be supplied by CS Energy’s Kogan Creek mine, an opencut operation 4km from the plant.  The coal will travel from the mine to the station via an overland conveyor at a rate of 8,000 tons per day or 2.8 million tons per year.

The Philippines demand for coal, both for power generation and for industries, will reach 12,246 million metric tons this year with only one-third coming from local mines, according to the Philippine Energy Plan.  The power sector will account for 10,177 million metric tons and industrial users, 2.07 million metric tons.  Only 3.88 million metric tons will come from local mines and the remainder will be improved from China, Indonesia and Australia. For the next few years, the projected coal demand is 15.28 million metric tons in 2014 with 13.06 million metric tons for electricity and 2.22 million metric tons for industries.  Domestic coal production is projected to reach 6.603 million metric tons in 2014 from 3.88 million metric tons in 2006.

Mantle Mining has acquired 87.5 percent of the Mount Mulligan Coal Project from Calcifer Industrial Minerals.  Mantle of Queensland plans to turn the 500million ton deposit of thermal coal into a highwall and longwall operation as well as for the extraction and sale of coal seam methane.

Australian-owned Thiess Leighton India has signed an agreement for its first coal mining project in India worth $1.5 billion.  Involved is the development and 20-year operation of an open-cast coal mine in the eastern state of Jharkhand.  The mine is expected to reach an ultimate capacity of 6.57 million tons a year.

INEOS-Fluor has acquired UK’s Glebe Mines Limited, which includes all holdings.  Glebe Mines has been supplying INEOS Fluor with fluorspar, a raw material vital to the manufacturer’s fluorochemical production at its Runcorn site, for over 50 years.  Glebe Mines Limited will be a stand-alone company and the name will remain the same.

BHP Billiton and Anglo American plan to invest nearly $1 billion in two South African coal projects.  BHP Billiton plans a $450 million expansion at its coal mine at Klipspruit in South Africa to increase production capacity to 8 million tons a year.  Anglo American will invest $505 million to build a coal mine at Zondagsfontein in northeastern South Africa.  The mine would produce six million tons a year.

XSTRATA Coal will increase capacity by 40 million tons over the next three to five years as expansion of new mines come online.  With some $3 billion in projects underway, Xstrata reports its worldwide operations produced 91.3 Mt in 2006.    36.9 Mt was produced in New South Wales and 24.4 Mt was produced in Queensland.  South African operations produced 20.5 Mt and American operations added 9.5 Mt.

Yanzhou Coal Mining subsidiary Heze Energy and Chemical Co. Ltd. has agreed to purchase the mining rights to the Zhaolou Coal Mine from its parent company Yankuang Mining Group for $101 million.

Mudajaya Group Bhd’s associate RKM Powergen Private Ltd., currently undertaking a coal-fired 1,200-megawatt power project in India, has formed a joint venture with four other parties to mine the Fathepur east coal block in India.  The agreement is with JLD Yavatmal Energy Ltd, Visa Power Ltd, Green Infrastructure Private Ltd and Vandana Vidhyut Ltd to form the JV company.  The coal block located at Chhattisgarth has coal reserves of 450  million tons.

PT Petrosea, a unit of Clough International Singapore Pte ltd, has a contract worth $390 million for a start-up coal mining company PIT lithabi Bara Utama to operate and provide coal hauling services.  Petrosea will handle all aspects of the mining operations at the mine project in East Kalimantan, including mine development engineering and construction, and all mining operations in a pit-to-port total service solution for five years.

China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd is considering investments in Mongolia, Indonesia and Australia to boost production, looking for mergers and/or acquisitions.  Shenhua is considering a $4 billion bid for a controlling stake in an Indonesian coal producer.  Coal accounts for over 70 percent of China’s total energy mix.  China’s coal output is expected to reach 2.6 billion tons this year.  In 2006, it produced 2.38 billion tons of coal.

BHP Billiton has exclusive marketing rights to White Energy’s export coal produced from the company’s upgrading coal process.  Billiton Marketing Holding BV has provided White with a $35 million, seven-year unsecured convertible funding facility to be used in a global rollout of White Energy’s patented coal technology.  White is the exclusive worldwide license holder of the Binderless Coal Briquetting process that reduces the moisture content of low-value coals while significantly upgrading the energy content. The company is currently constructing a plant in Indonesia under a five-year joint venture with Thiess subsidiary PT Thiess Contractors Indonesia.

Thomas & Coffee has the contract for Carbon Energy’s $A20 million Underground Coal Gasification demonstration project at Bloodwood Creek in southeast Queensland.  The engineering firm has begun preliminary works pending permits and approvals.  The development will include the construction of 1 petajoule per annum syngas module.  The Bloodwood Creek trial site is within a defined coal resource of more than 100 million tons.

UK Coal has a supply contract with EDF Energy to deliver 4 million tons of coal between 2009 and 2013 from Thoresby to EDF Energy’s Nottinghamshire power stations, Cottam and West Burton.  After 2012, UK Coal will continue production at Thoresby for an estimated six years, with the flexibility to work a new long-term supply contact, make spot sales, or a combination of the two.

Draeger Safety KG & Co. KGaA, Luebeck, Germany, is introducing a new line of life-saving products for tracking downed firefighters.  The company has entered into an exclusive manufacturing and supply agreement with Exit Technologies of Boulder, CO, developer of the Tracker FRT (Firefighters Rescue Transceiver) and ET (Egress Transmitter).  The Draeger FRT 1000 is a low-frequency 457 kHz radio transmitter and receiver both contained in the same handheld unit and worn on the SCBA belt.  The Draeger ETR 1000 is a transmit-only unit that can be placed at exits and other points of safety by the fire attack team or incident commander.  Can be used as “electronic breadcrumbs” by a distressed firefighter attempting reorientation or self-rescue.

Hillsborough Resources has moved into the 2 South Pit at the Quinsam mine in British Columbia and is expected to produce an additional 40,000 tons of thermal coal.  The mine is anticipating production figures of 850,000 tons and a goal of one million tons per annum.  The 4 South Underground Mine has resumed production after being on care and maintenance for three years after development.

India plans an annual coal output of more than 104 million tons by 2011, quadrupling its current annual output.  The country is considering an allocation of another 23 blocks for the steel and cement sectors.  To date, 172 coal blocks with reserves of 38.78 billion tons have been allocated to 129 companies.

Coal India Ltd plans to open new coal mining project covering some 450 kilometers in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand state, Asansol and Raniganj districts of West Bengal state.  The Coal Mines and Planning Institute Ltd. reports that more than one billion tons of coal is still untouched in the mining area of Jharia, Mugma and Asansol.

Ausenco has a contract to operate and maintain the coal handling and preparation plant at Aquila Resources’ joint venture Isaac Plains mine in Queensland.  The firm’s operations and maintenance division, Ascentis, will get revenues of $A22 million for the first two years and a further $15 million for each year the plant is in operation.  Isaac Plains is an opencut operation.  Production is forecast at 1.8 million tons of coal the first year, increasing to 3.8 Mt in following years.

Indonesia, the world’s second largest coal exporter, will export some 179 million tons or 75 percent of its total coal production this year, especially to China and India.  The country’s total production is forecast to reach 234 million tons, up from 215 million tons last year, representing a 9 percent increase.

The JB Group plans to invest $350 million in Mongolia to develop and utilize coal mines recently acquired.  The group has rights for coal mining in a 20 sq km area of Erdos City in Inner Mongolia, with proven coal reserve of some 800 million tons.  A methanol refinery is being set up in the region to utilize the coal reserves.  The plant is expected to start in late 2008 and will have an initial production capacity of 3,000,000 tons.

China’s overall energy demand will grow by 3.2 percent per year between 2005 and 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.  Coal currently makes up about 70 percent of China’s energy needs and is expected to continue to play a central role.  China has become the world’s second largest energy producer, forcing it to seek resources elsewhere, especially crude oil in Africa and Central Asia.

BHP Billiton’s Klipspruit mine in South Africa is undergoing a $450 million overhaul that will ultimately double its annual production.  The opencut mine currently produces 4.8 million tons a year of ROM coal, but will expand to an 8 Mtpa by the second half of 2009. The investment includes a 16Mtpa Phola Coal Processing Plant onsite.  Mine life of the operation is about 20 years.

Macarthur Coal has acquired all the shares in Custom Mining and a 70 percent stake in the Middlemount coal project for $A275 million.  Macarthur will also gain a farm-in agreement for up to a 70 percent stake in the Dingo West project.  The Middlemount project has a JORC measured resource of 30.6 million tons, an indicated resource of 37.8 Mt and a inferred resource of 31.7 Mt, totaling 100.1 million tons.  Bulk sample opencut mining activities have started and it is anticipated 70 percent of the mine’s production will be high-quality coking coal with the remainder a low volatile PCI coal.

 ABB Switzerland, Ltd has won an order worth $20 million from Climax Molybdenum Company for two Gearless Mill Drive systems at the company’s Climax mine in central Colorado. The GMD systems include ringmotors, transformers, E-houses, cyclo converters and a power factor correction and harmonic filter study.

Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India ( SAIL) are planning a joint venture for mining four coking coal blocks in Jharkhand, which has reserves of some 500 million tons.  Both companies would seek to form a JV company and begin scouting for more coal blocks.  SAIL is planning to increase output to 26 million tons, while Tata is executing major brownfield an greenfield expansion projects.

Singareni Collieries Company Limited of Andhra is planning a merchant power plant of 600-Mw  capacity, scheduled to be completed by 2011.  The company had a production of 29.83 million tons of coal in the first nine months of the current financial year, and plans to develop 27 new mines during the Eleventh Plan period.

Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province closed 273 small coal mines last year and plans to close another 100 small mines this year.  With the closures, the number of accidents and tolls have decreased .  A total of 170 people died in 110 coal mine accidents last year, compared to 278 deaths in 152 accidents in the previous year.  The number of small coal mines has reduced from more than 7,000 in 1999 to the current 1,400 in the province.

A consortium consisting of the Korea Resources Corp. and the Korea Electric Power Corp. has acquired a 10 percent stake in the Moolarben Bituminous Coal Mine in Australia, that should bring some 2.8 million tons of coal annually to Korea starting in 2009.  Korea can now import bituminous coal at production cost, which is almost half of the market price,  Bituminous coal is Korea’s number two source of energy.

China plans to build six to eight coal enterprises each with a capacity of 100 million tons, and eight to 10 coal enterprises with a capacity of 50 million tons, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).  The groups are expected to contribute more than half of China’s coal output of 2.6 billion tons in 2010.

Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers has signed a memorandum of understanding with GAIL for setting up a coal gasification project at Talcher in Orissa.  Gas from the plant will be used in the production of ammonia, urea and other chemicals.

Songzai International Holding Group Inc. has acquired a 90 percent equity stake in two mining companies in northeast China’s Heilongjian province.

Total production of energy in Australia is predicted to increase at an average of 2.6 percent a year for the next 20 years, according to ABARE Economics’ Australian energy projections.  The projections are based on increasing mine and infrastructure capacity in Queensland and New South Wales. Improvements include a 13-million ton expansion of Newcastle’s port coal terminal and further additions to Australia’s coal export infrastructure are underway. 

The $3.5 billion Wiggins Island Coal Terminal, north of Gladstone, will be one of the world’s biggest export facilities when completed.  It would eventually handle up to 84 million tons a year, most of it coking coal used in steel making.  Final stage is environmental approval from the federal government.  The first stage of the terminal is expected to be completed by 2012.  It will provide 500 jobs during its construction and about 150 when it begins operation.

Reliance Industries Ltd. plans to build an $8 billion coal liquefaction project at Talcher in India’s southeastern state of Orissa.  Reliance has asked the Indian government for permission to mine three coal blocks with reserves of 1.6 billion tons that are currently operated by state-run Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.  The company wants to produce 80,000 barrels a day of liquid fuel and has signed agreements with KBR Inc. and Headwaters Inc. for using the technology.

Accidents in China’s coal mines killed nearly 3,800 workers last year, state media reports, 20 percent less than the 2006 toll.  Chinese mines produced 2.5 billion tons of coal last year, almost 8 percent more than in 2006. 

GAIL India Ltd, New Delhi, has signed an agreement with Coal India Ltd to set up a coal gasification project for production of a gas used to make fertilizers.  The project would use 5,000 tons of coal a day to make 7.76 million standard cubic meters a day of gas.  The gas produced will be used to make 3,500 tons of urea per day, the company said.