Aussie pro-coal campaign aims at boosting local industry

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on Friday that the state of New South Wales announced a 60-day freeze on new exploration licences for coal, coal seam gas and petroleum in a push to resolve the escalating conflict between farmers, miners and conservationists over land use. The need for a moratorium was questioned by the state's mining industry, which said billions of dollars in investment were at stake, but it said it broadly supported the development of a new approach to avoid conflict over valuable land.

"Everyone who has money is rushing to invest in iron ore," Baosteel Group chairman, Xu Lejiang said on Friday, warning that supply may outstrip demand “sooner than expected” pushing prices down in the process. Brazil’s Vale, and Australian heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto have some $45bn slated for new mines. The cash price of 62%-iron ore shipped to China's Tianjin port has almost tripled from Nov. 21, 2008 when data became available, according to the Steel Index.

Valuations of iron ore companies have been cut in response to Western Australia's controversial royalty increase, with Andrew Forrest's fast-growing Fortescue Metals taking the biggest hit. The valuation hits were despite the protection from state the protection from state royalty increases that the miners negotiated last year with the federal government in the reworked - and less onerous - minerals resource rent tax.

Bloomberg reports on Thursday that GVK Power & Infrastructure, a builder of airports and utilities controlled by Indian billionaire GV Krishna Reddy, is in talks to borrow as much as $850m to fund the purchase of two Hancock Prospecting coal mines according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. GVK will use the money to pay Hancock $500m for equity in the mines and another $350m as compensation for costs incurred by the Australian company for running them.

Wayne Swan has threatened to blow a $2 billion hole in the Barnett Government's plan to lift royalty rates on iron ore miners, with every cent raised by the move likely to end up with other States and Territories.The Commonwealth Grants Commission has

Xstrata Mount Isa Mines has announced plans to sustain the future of its Mount Isa operations through expanded mining and concentrate production, while phasing out copper smelting at Mount Isa and refining operations in Townsville by the end of 2016. 

United Pipeline Systems, a division of Insituform Technologies, has been awarded an additional $10.5 million for the supply and installation of its Tite Liner® HDPE solution in pipelines at the Sino Iron Ore project in Western Australia. This contract expands the $10.9 millionproject for themine previously announced in January 2010.

Global mining company Rio Tinto has raised a total of $2 billion bonds in long-term debt bonds, it said on Wednesday. The offer, registered in the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, consisted of $700 million in 5-year notes with a coupon of 2.5 percent, $1 billion in 10-year bonds with a 4.125 percent coupon and $300 million in 30-year bonds paying a 5.2 percent coupon.

The proposed development of one of South Australia’s most significant infrastructure projects - a new multi-million dollar bulk commodities export facility at Port Bonython on Spencer Gulf - has taken a significant step forward. The South Australian Government and Spencer Gulf Port Link Consortium, the group originally selected by the government as its preferred bidder for project, jointly announced a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be undertaken into the project. The consortium comprises Flinders Port Holdings, Leighton Contractors, Macquarie Capital, BIS Industrial Logistics and the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).