Archive

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIA’S valuable minerals industry has welcomed the controversial draft US-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which will remove tariffs from almost all non-metallic industrial minerals on both sides of the Pacific Ocean upon ratification. The Minerals Council of Australia said the deal would directly improve its exports of non-metallic minerals such as rutile and zircon, of which Australia is the world’s leading producer.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A LEGAL action just begun by the European Commission against France over that country’s public procurement code seems likely to bolster the determination of the UK government in its attempts to steer the Planning and Compulsory Purchase (PCP) Bill through Parliament.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AN INNOVATION in optical fibre technology developed in Australia has opened the way for an advance in medical imaging inside the human body, as well as significantly speeding up the capacity of personal computers. The development of hollow optic fibres made from Perspex has been achieved by a team from the Australian Photonics Cooperative Research Centre (APCRC) and the University of Sydney’s Optical Fibre Technology Centre.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ABUSE of drugs and alcohol in the workplace may be a growing concern in European Union (EU) countries but there seems little evidence that the relevant authorities are unduly alarmed by it. An informal survey by Occupational Health of organisations and government departments suggests that little attempt has been made so far to assess the scale of the problem, still less to devise legislation aimed at workers, as distinct from society in general.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEPs are heading off a move by European Union (EU) ministers to agree without consultation pared-back legislation on guaranteeing the security of gas supplies during a European crisis. The European Parliament’s industry committee has voted narrowly to refuse a EU Council of Ministers bid to approve the heavily amended legislation without further input from MEPs.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A REPORT commissioned by the Alberta Energy Utilities Board has recommended the closure of 485 natural gas wells in the northeast of the province to protect oil sands reserves. The wells produce 136 million cubic feet of gas daily, sitting above bitumen reserves; the board fears removing the gas would weaken the pressure on the sands, making it harder to bring them to the surface.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
APPROVAL for the CDN$8.5 billion Horizon oil sands project in Fort McMurray, Alberta, has been granted to Canadian Natural Resources, by both by Alberta’s energy regulator and Canada’s federal environmental assessment agency. The go ahead came with 17 conditions relating to mining operations, resource conservation and tailings management that must be met by the Calgary-based oil and gas producer.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SOUTH Asia regional meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has agreed to set up a Central Reporting Agency (CRA), which would evaluate ground and airborne ADS/CPDLC systems performance in an operational trial for the Bay of Bengal area.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, is lending US$10 million to Société Concessionnaire de l’Aéroport to expand Cambodia’s Phnom Penh and the Siem Reap-Angkor international airports. The company holds a 25-year concession from the Cambodian government to operate these terminals.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
HONG Kong airport Chek Lap Kok’s second largest cargo handler Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT) is to spend HK$1.5 billion (US$192 million) to double its capacity.

The company has appointed architects and engineering consultants to compete detailed expansion plans because the it is nearly using all of its current designated annual handling capacity of 500,000 tons.…