B06 Coal Mining

Stanmore Coal on track to reopen mothballed mine

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 19 : 18-Dec-15

Nick Jorss, the MD of Australian-listed Stanmore Coal, is confident that the Isaac Plains mine in Queensland will be profitable despite the downturn in the coking coal price. Stanmore will employ about 150 people at the mine, which it bought from Vale and Sumitomo for just $A1 earlier in 2015. The company has targeted April 2016 to commence production.

CORPORATES
STANMORE COAL LIMITED – ASX SMR, VALE SA, SUMITOMO CORPORATION, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, FELIX RESOURCES LIMITED, YANCOAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX YAL, EXCEL COAL LIMITED, PEABODY ENERGY CORPORATION

Activists fail to block Adani’s mine

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 16-Dec-15

The Land Court of Queensland has recommended that the State Government grant a mining lease to Adani for its proposed Carmichael coal mine. However, Land Court president Carmel MacDonald added that the mine’s approval should be subject to a number of conditions, and concluded that the economic benefits of the $A16.5bn project would be greater than its environmental impact. Environmentalists have sought to block the project.

CORPORATES
ADANI ENTERPRISES LIMITED, LAND COURT OF QUEENSLAND, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS, ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS OFFICE LIMITED

Coal mining crisis to hit at home

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Original article by Amanda Saunders, James Chessell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Dec-15

Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani has revealed plans to offload or close 35 of its mines worldwide and significantly reduce its global workforce. At least four of the group’s Australian mines are expected to be affected by the restructuring, although Anglo American is likely to retain the majority of its metallurgical coal mines in Australia. Anglo American will also abandon its progressive dividend policy, and shareholders will not receive a dividend payment in 2015 and 2016.

CORPORATES
ANGLO AMERICAN PLC, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, PENGANA CAPITAL LIMITED, GLENCORE PLC, ANTAMINA, CERREJON, SAMARCO MINERACAO SA, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED

BHP and Rio Tinto quietly exit coal

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Original article by Angus Grigg
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 3-Dec-15

Australian-listed BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have both significantly reduced their thermal coal production since 2008. Rio Tinto has also offloaded some $US2bn worth of thermal coal mines in recent years, while the future of its Hunter Valley mines is uncertain, and BHP spun off some of its thermal coal mines into South32. While coal divestment lobby groups such as 350 Australia have welcomed the big miners’ move to reduce their exposure to coal, Rio Tinto’s Sebastien Jacques recently forecast that global demand for thermal coal will remain strong.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, 350 AUSTRALIA, PENGANA GLOBAL RESOURCES FUND, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS, UNITED NATIONS, SOUTHGOBI RESOURCES LIMITED, BLOOMBERG LP

Noble ousts ResGen board

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 20 : 27-Nov-15

Shares in Australian-listed Resource Generation shed 14.3 per cent on 26 November 2015, after Noble Group narrowly succeeded in removing the entire board and appointing its own nominees at the AGM. Some 51 per cent of votes cast were in favour of the board spill, which followed a dispute between Resource Generation and its major shareholders regarding funding arrangements for the Boikarabelo coal project in South Africa.

CORPORATES
RESOURCE GENERATION LIMITED – ASX RESNOBLE GROUP LIMITEDSHINTO TORIICADOGAN INVESTMENT HOLDINGALTIUS INVESTMENT HOLDINGSAUSTRALIA. TAKEOVERS PANELHAB AND JPR PRIVEE

BHP says China coal tests hurt free trade

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Original article by Amanda Saunders
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 2-Nov-15

China’s introduction of quality-testing for imported coal has had no direct impact on BHP Billiton, whose shipments have been cleared. However, BHP executive Shaun Verner believes that some coal exporters have had to sell coal at significantly lower prices in other markets after failing to pass China’s new quality control requirements. He notes that the slump in the price of metallurgical coal means it is costly for a coal producer to have a shipment rejected.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Rinehart mine would damage groundwater

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 20-Oct-15

The Land Court of Queensland has been told that the proposed Kevin’s Corner thermal coal mine should not proceed due to concerns about its impact on groundwater reserves. The $A4.2bn project is being undertaken by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Coal and India-based GVK, which are facing opposition from environmentalists and farmers. The mine would export up to 30 million tonnes of coal each year.

CORPORATES
HANCOCK COAL PTY LTD, GVK INDUSTRIES LIMITED, LAND COURT OF QUEENSLAND, ADANI ENTERPRISES LIMITED, COAST AND COUNTRY ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND INCORPORATED, NORTH QUEENSLAND CONSERVATION COUNCIL, MACKAY CONSERVATION GROUP INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Strikers still eligible for productivity bonus

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 6-Oct-15

The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has rejected a bid by Thiess to overturn a previous ruling on the payment of a productivity bonus to coal miners who had gone on strike. The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union had argued that workers at the Mt Owen mine in New South Wales should be entitled to the productivity-linked component of a weekly allowance, despite being on strike for three months. The union had argued that an enterprise agrement did not specify any causes for non-payment of the bonus.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, THIESS PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Rio Tinto finds New Hope after early win on coal exit

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Original article by Amanda Saunders
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 & 28 : 1-Oct-15

Australian-listed New Hope Corporation will pay $A867m for Rio Tinto’s 40 per cent stake in the Bengalla thermal coal mine in New South Wales. Rio is also seeking to offload its stakes in the Mount Thorley Warkworth and Hunter Valley Operations coal mines in the Hunter Valley. A number of other companies submitted bids to acquire the stake in Bengalla, which produced 8.6 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2014.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, NEW HOPE CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX NHC, BENGALLA COAL MINES, COAL AND ALLIED INDUSTRIES LIMITED, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, TAIWAN POWER COMPANY, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE EQUITIES LIMITED, SHAW AND PARTNERS LIMITED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, GLENCORE PLC

NAB cold on Adani’s Carmichael

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Original article by Amanda Saunders, Ben Potter
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 3-Sep-15

National Australia Bank is reported to have ruled out investing in Adani’s $A16 billion Carmichael coal project in Queensland. Adani responded by saying it had never approached NAB for funding. Meanwhile, announcing a 15.4 per cent return on its portfolio, Future Fund chairman Peter Costello said the fund would continue to invest in companies where there was an investment case, whether they were mines or banks supporting mines.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, GREENPEACE, BANK OF TOKYO-MITSUBISHI LIMITED, WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC, NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL