Adani $12 billion Carmichael coal project faces fresh legal challenge

Reuters is reporting that FE Steel, the world's No 5 steelmaker, on Monday halted production at a plant near Tokyo and global fourth-ranked Nippon Steel suspended operations at two small plants: - JFE said shipments from its 10 million tonnes per year Higashi Nihon plant near Tokyo had virtually halted due to a power outage. - JFE resumed operations on Sunday of two blast furnaces at its Higashi Nihon plant, one of its two mainstay plants, which were idled after Friday's quake and tsunami.

According to a report from Reuters, Patriot Coal Corp. has halted production at its Rivers Edge metallurgical mine in West Virginia due to flooding in a sealed, mined-out area. An employee at its Rivers Edge mine discovered excess water behind two seals on March 7, which prompted the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to issue an imminent danger order, the St. Louis, Missouri-based firm said in a regulatory filing. Patriot said the flooding, which followed heavy rain, led to an evacuation of the mine.

The Association of American Railroads said that freight railroads will get US$12 billion capital expenditure in 2011. The association released a state of the industry report on Wednesday, Great Expectations 2011. Capital expenditure is rising to keep up with demand for services, namely grain and coal transport.

Thom Beers, the man behind the popular reality television series Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, is now producing a series about coal mining in Appalachia. Coal premieres on Spike TV this spring with the first show airing at the end of this month. You can already see episodes on Spike TV's website.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Tata Steel Ltd. expects its raw material costs to increase around 15% in the next fiscal […]

Institutional shareholders in Riversdale Mining are moving toward backing global miner Rio Tinto's sweetened A$3.9 billion takeover offer for the Mozambique-focused coal miner, Riversdale's chief executive said on Thursday. Rio Tinto raised its offer to A$16.50 a share on Thursday in a final bid to woo key shareholders who have held up the deal, and extended the offer for a third time, to April 1.

Riversdale Mining head Steve Mallyon has backed Rio Tinto's increased offer for the coal company, warning investors there was no hint of a competing bid, The Wall Street Journal reported. The global giant today said it would increase its offer to $16.50 a share from $16 a share, if it gained more than a 50 per cent interest in the Mozambique-focussed company by March 23. Rio said it would not increase its offer beyond that point unless there was a competing proposal.

The last coal-fired power plant in the Pacific Northwest will shut down completely by 2025 under an agreement announced Saturday by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, says a report by the Los Angeles Times. The first boiler of TransAlta's 1,460-megawatt plant in Centralia, Wash., is set to go offline in 2020 and the second in 2025. “This agreement is sending a message that states are getting serious about combating global-warming pollution and are taking steps to open up markets for home-grown clean energy,” said Bruce Nilles, deputy conservation director with the Sierra Club, whose Beyond Coal Campaign has been involved in the negotiations. Nilles hinted at the breakthrough during a keynote speech at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Ore., but commented only after the announcement.

Teck Resources Limited ("Teck", TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) announced today that it has reached agreement with Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership ("Westshore") on terms for the shipment of steelmaking coal from Teck's mines in British Columbia and Alberta for a four year term from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2016. The new agreement envisions Teck shipping 16 million tonnes of coal in the initial contract year, and larger amounts in subsequent years when Teck's production is scheduled to increase, all at fixed rates through Westshore.