Displaying items by tag: Coal

India: The Centre of Mining has decided to put 31 minerals under the control of state governments by scaling down their status from major to minor as part of a mining policy change, according to Mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar. This allows states to decide the mining lease of the minerals, which account for about 60% of the total leased area in the country.

The decentralised minerals include gypsum, quartz, chalk and china clay. The change in policy will let states decide the rate of royalty, contribution to the district mineral foundation, procedure for grant of mineral concessions and rules. The Mines Ministry will allow states' public sector undertakings to explore minerals in areas under their jurisdiction.

"It is an important step in fulfilling the minimum government, maximum governance motto of our government," said Tomar. "This is being done to devolve more power to the states and expedite the process of mineral development in the country." States cannot lease out major minerals such as coal and iron ore without mandatory clearances from central ministries. High revenue earners, coal and iron ore, retain their positions as major minerals even after the policy shift.

The decision to broaden the list of minor minerals should drastically shorten the lease approval process because the state would be dealing with all the paperwork. Production should also increase. However, India could be treading on a minefield of environmental degradation if adequate protection measures are not taken.

Belarus: Belarusian manufacturers are expected to export 1.8Mt of cement in 2015, including 1.3Mt to be supplied to Russia's Eurocement, according to Construction minister Anatol Chorny. Belarus sold 980,000t of cement to Eurocement in 2014. Belarus' cement output is expected to total 6.1Mt in 2015, up from 5.8Mt in 2014.

"This year we have signed an exclusive contract for the supply of 1.3Mt," said Chorny. "The contract is advantageous to Belarus because 50% of the total amount shall be paid in advance and the rest shall be paid within 10 days of the delivery date. If the price of cement in the Russian market is lower than in Belarus, the Russian company will cover the losses. If the price will be higher, the difference will be equally divided." Belarus will also export cement to Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, Poland and Lithuania in 2015.

Belarus' AAT Krychawtsementnashyfer in Krychaw, Mahilyow, operated at a loss in 2013. This was caused by its old production plant, which still uses natural gas to manufacture cement. In contrast, the company's new production facility generated a profit of about Euro676,000 in 2014. To reduce the cost of cement production, Krychawtsementnashyfer installed a cement kiln fuelled by waste tyres in 2014 and plans to start using coal dust as a fuel in 2015, according to Chorny.

India: The government is expecting aggressive bids for all of the 46 coal blocks whose reallocation will start on 14 February 2015, especially for blocks assigned to end-use power generation. However, for the blocks apportioned to the unregulated sector, including the cement, steel and captive power industries, the cement sector is likely to step carefully. Cement companies lost allocations to 12 coal blocks following a Supreme Court order that held all captive coal allocations as illegal.

Imported coal prices fell sharply in 2014, easing the economics of cement production. If prices of imported coal turn volatile however, cement companies face further problems. "We cannot depend solely on imported coal prices staying low and neither can the government assure good quality coal on the open market. We expect to see aggressive bidding for the blocks," said H M Bangur, managing director of Shree Cement.

As per the bid regulations by the ministry of coal, there will be a forward bidding model for the steel and cement sectors. Forward bidding implies aggressive bidding for the coal blocks since the price of these commodities is market-driven. The government has to reallocate 46 operational coal blocks through auction by 31 March 2015.

India: The Coal Ministry has begun the process of allotment of mines to central and state public sector units, starting with the allotment of 36 coal blocks.

The Supreme Court had in September 2014 scrapped all but four of 218 coal blocks allocated by the government over the past two decades, in a tougher-than-expected ruling that sank shares of companies that have invested heavily in projects around the concessions. Most power, steel and cement companies that won blocks have until end-March to return them and the government then plans to auction them off. The previous practice of selective allocation was ruled illegal and arbitrary by the court.

Coal secretary Anil Swarup said that the ministry has started the process of coal allocation. "Today, we are issuing a notification for the allotment of 36 coal blocks. More mines will be added subsequently depending on the requirement. It will depend on the request we receive from state entities or the public sector undertakings in terms of allocation of coal blocks," said Swarup. He added that the ministry would issue guidelines for the coal blocks and those firms that already have coal linkages will have to surrender them. Once the linkages are surrendered then more coal will be made available to state-owned Coal India Limited. Coal India accounts for about 80% of the country's total output. Coal fuels 60% of the country's power production.

"Out of 101 mines, we are looking at 98 mines, as the coal ministry has examined them and it was discovered that there were three blocks in a 'No Go' area. Out of 98 mines, 36 blocks are going for allocation. 42 mines are auctioned, 23 blocks are in schedule II and 23 blocks are in schedule III. The remaining 16 will be auctioned in the future," said Swarup. Around 167 bidders have requested to visit the coal block site.

Coal India plans to engage an external consultant to examine various structures and implementation models to auction the coal linkages. The consultant would examine various structures and implementations models for the auction of coal linkages / LoAs (Letter of Assurances) or other such market-based mechanisms and to recommend the optimal structure that would meet the requirements of all the stakeholders.

India: Cement companies that operate in East Jaintia Hills District, Meghalaya State face a precarious situation due to a ban imposed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the extraction and transportation of coal. As coal is a major fuel used by the cement plants in the region, its non-availability threatens to close the plants.

"Coal demand from cement plants is huge and if there is no supply, all the cement companies will have no other option but to shut down their plants," said a representative at one of the cement plants affected by the ban. He lamented that the NGT court had lifted the ban on transportation of the assessed and extracted coal for transportation to Beltola District, Assam State, only. "However, the cement plants in East Jaintia Hills have not received any coal due to the non-availability of a weighbridge in the district," he said. "Approximately 2000 - 2500 trucks are seen transporting coal to Assam every day."

India: A strike by coal workers' unions would impact industrial growth across the country, industry chambers said. It asked the trade unions to resolve their grievances in an amicable manner.

"The strike would impact industrial growth across India, especially in power-deficient northern and southern regions, resulting in long unplanned outages," said Assocham secretary general D S Rawat. "The strike would impact all industries based on coal, including the cement industries that are already reeling under the pressure of raw material prices."

Over 75% of India's daily coal output has been hit as the five-day strike by workers of State-run miners entered the second day on 7 January 2015, raising fears of disruption in power supplies. The industrial action is in protest of 'disinvestment and restructuring of state-run Coal India' and to press for demands, including the roll-back of what unions call 'process of denationalising of coal sector.'

Appealing to all trade unions to call off the strike, Process Harmony Development (PHD) chamber president Alok Shriram said that they should negotiate with the government to resolve their concerns and grievances in an amicable manner. The government has begun an exercise to reform India with progressive and modest policies to put it on the path of accelerated growth. Any sort of strike to oppose and obstruct the evolving policies would harm the country's economic interest, according to Shriram.

"The path of strike serves neither workers nor the policy makers. Therefore, the working class of Coal India ought to seek redressal of their grievances through negotiations," said Shriram.

Update: According to Reuters, the strike has been called off on the second day (7 January 2015) after the government agreed to re-examine the decision.

Power minister Piyush Goyal agreed to form a committee to look into any issues with a recently-passed executive order that would allow auctions of coal mines to private companies for their own use, as well as allowing commercial mining in the future.

"We have withdrawn the strike," said Jibon Roy, a senior union leader. "The minister agreed to form a committee. They will see what are the problems in the ordinance (executive order). Normal discussions on other demands will continue."

Tanzania: The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has vowed to take Tanga Cement to task over allegations of importing thousands of tonnes of hazardous materials. The official environmental overseers allege that Tanga Cement Company Ltd (TCCL) has been importing thermal coal from South Africa in violation of a 10-year-old law that bans an individual or company from importing hazardous materials unless authorised by the NEMC. NEMC officials believe that TCCL's coal is an environmental hazard because it was imported from South Africa, not only without their knowledge, but also without their consent.

"We don't have anything personal, we just want them to abide by the law," said NEMC environment officer Magori Wambura. He added that TCCL had not only ignored the marine conservation laws, but also the government and the public it serves. "We'll take this issue seriously until we make sure they are punished," said Wambura. The NEMC has the power to revoke operational permits for the violating organisations, to settle environmental disputes and to file civil and criminal cases in the court of law.

Legal counsellor John Mnyele from the environmental monitoring council in Tanga said that they would also take TCCL to task for violating the agreement that it had signed with another State environmental monitoring offshoot, the Environment and Social Management Plan (ESMP) on the purchase of coal. Mnyele said that the agreement restricted TCCL's import of coal, limiting it to the use of thermal energy from Kiwira Coal Mines in Mbeya and other sources from Ruvuma region. Mining experts say there are about 1Bnt of coal reserves in southern Tanzania alone.

Pakistan: Attock Cement Limited and K-Electric have agreed to set up 40MW coal-fired plant, enough to power its cement plant. Surplus electricity will be sold back to the grid.

"Attock Cement has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with K-Electric for the installation of 40MW coal-fired plant at its Hub plant for its own utilisation and sell surplus power to K-Electric," said Attock Cement.

Fed up with constant electricity cuts and soaring energy prices, Pakistani businesses are exploring options to generate electricity from coal-fired plants. Attock Cement has already discussed various aspects of its planned coal-fired project with suppliers of plants and machinery.

India: Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has decided to cut coal supplies to the cement industry as it prioritises thermal power plants in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Power companies in the two states use 66% of coal produced by SCCL. However, the plants have been unable to work to their full capacity in the second half of 2014 due to a shortage of coal, according to SCCL General Manager S Chandrasekhar.

The decease in coal supplies to the cement producers is expected to make prices rise. Local media reports that the coal from SCCL is more suitable for cement production than power generation as it has a high ash content of 35 – 40%. SCCL is also reported to have encountered several instances of 'misuse' of allocated coal by cement companies. 160,000t/day or 16% of the total coal production is currently allocated to the cement industry and another 6.6% is allocated to captive power plants run by cement companies.

Egypt: Suez Cement plans to spend US$84m in 2015 to convert its Helwan and Tora 2 cement plants to use coal. The move is a response to Egypt's on-going energy crisis.

The company reported a 40.5% rise year-on-year in third-quarter profit in November 2014 after it managed to pass on higher production costs to consumers. However, its nine month profit fell by 14.6% year-on-year due to severe energy shortages that forced the company to cut output by 40% so far in 2014. Suez Cement was one of the companies affected when the government cut natural gas supplies to factories in January 2014 and has had to import clinker at higher cost.