Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
ALROSA MOVE
BY MARK ROWE
THE RUSSIAN diamond producer ALROSA has obtained a license for exploring diamond deposits in the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia around lake Baikal. ALROSA has traditionally mined the northern province of Yakutia since the 1940s but those deposits are understood to be nearing depletion.…
URANIUM WASTE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RISK of millions of tonnes of uranium mining waste being swept by a landslide into a populous central Asian river basin has prompted the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to redouble its efforts to prevent such a tragedy.…
SINGAPORE PAINT INDUSTRY
BY MARK ROWE
IN tough economic times, an industry has to sell itself harder. It is no surprise, then, that if you glance at the websites of Singapore’s leading paint companies, you will see plenty of buzzwords such as “technology”, “improvement” and “development”.…
PLASTIC TOYS STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE USE of acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) as a plasticiser in children’s toys is not only safe, but current risk assessment models are reliable, European Union (EU) scientists have ruled. The European Commission’s scientific committee on toxicity, ecotoxicity and the environment (CSTEE) has concluded that Toxicology/Regulatory Services Inc.’s…
IRON NANO-PARTICLES
BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIAN researchers have developed what they say is a cheaper and safer way of producing iron nano-particles crucial for cleaning up contaminated sites, notably those containing waste solvents. The particles chemically modify polluting compounds by removing chlorine atoms, replacing them with hydrogen atoms.…
BILLITON EXPANSION
BY RICHARD HURST
MINING and minerals corporation BHP Billiton has announced that it is in the early stages of further expanding existing smelters in South Africa and Mozambique. Don Argus, BHPB chairman, speaking at the inauguration of a US$412 expansion on the Hillside smelter near the Natal port of Richards Bay, said that the success of his company’s two southern African projects had prompted the company to seek additional opportunities.…
FRENCH GOLD - ECJ
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has declared illegal under European Union (EU) treaty commitments, a French system of assessing gold, where articles with a fineness of 375 or 585 parts per 1,000 are termed ‘gold alloy’, while only articles stamped as being of a fineness of 750 parts per 1,000 are sold as ‘gold’.…
EIB ARCELOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is considering plans to lend Belgian steel producer Arcelor Euro 125 million, to invest in a new stainless steel meltshop in Charleroi, including an electric furnace, an argon oxygen decarbonisation converter and a continuous slab casting installation.…
ROMANIA TUBE DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved European Commission plans to re-erect anti-dumping duties against two Romanian producers of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel, declared illegal last year by the European Court of Justice over administrative mistakes.…
RUSSIAN GOLD EXPORTS FALL
BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIAN gold exports fell by 27 per cent last year, mainly because the country’s central bank sold none of its gold, according to the Russian Union of Gold Producers. Exports of gold dropped to 150 tons, from 191 tons in 2002, though gold production increased to 176.9 tons from 170.9 tons.…