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.
COKE EXEMPTION
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE BRITISH government’s decision to exempt coke, (when it is used as a chemical reductant in steel production), and some other fuels with non-energy “dual-uses” from its Climate Change Levy has been approved by the European Commission. Brussels said it was giving a go-ahead following a “revised notification” by the UK addressing the Commission’s concerns about competition and the environment.…
COAL COMPETITION
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is demanding that the French public coal corporation Charbonnages de France repay Euro 20 million, (Pounds 12 million), of aid granted between 1994 and 1997 to its government’s central treasury even though Brussels had originally authorised the payments.…
VIBRATION INJURIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINAL agreement has been secured on an updated European Union directive on employees’ safety from exposure to mechanical vibrations, with the deadline companies have to introduce technical changes reducing exposure being cut from 2011 to 2010. This was agreed by a European Parliament- EU Council of Ministers conciliation committee.…
KOSOVO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Reconstruction has awarded three new contracts to international consortiums to boost Kosovo’s electricity sector, which relies on the province’s coal mines. In particular, the agency has awarded a Euro 9 million contract to a SwedPower led group, to give training, management support and technical assistance to Kosovo electricity company KEK, notably so it can better manage its coal supplies.…
RUSSIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is joining with Raiffeisenbank Austria to set up a US$12 million pilot leasing facility, to allow Russian mining and construction companies to secure equipment from top mining machinery manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.…
MALAWI MINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has approved the lending of Euro 300,000 to help finance a Euro 1.8 million feasibility study into the viability of extracting strontianite ore at Kangankunde, in Malawi, southern Africa, and then processing it into marketable strontium carbonate.…
MINERAL VALUE IT
BY MATTHEW BRACE
TWO key mining research facilities in Australia are collaborating to devise a standard set of accounting practices for the industry. The international industry research association AMIRA, and the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), at the University of Queensland, are establishing a practical and user-friendly system to suit all operations irrespective of the size, scale and type of ore involved.…
THAILAND ADD
BY MARK ROWE
Villages from two nearby communities fear the project will cause subsidence, spread salty dust over a wide area and lead to an increase in the salinity levels of the soil, making it harder to grow crops. Local protesters in Udon Thani say salt sediments and saline wastewater from the ore processing plants could damage farmland and water sources.…
THAILAND STORY
BY MARK ROWE
JAPANESE companies Tomen and Toyota Tsusho are to supply four million tons annually of high quality low-sulphur from the Australian company Oakbridge Ltd to fuel a controversial coal-fired power plant in Thailand. The coal has been chosen because it contains significantly less sulphur than domestic coal used in Thailand and should minimise sulphur oxide emissions.…
OCEAN FLOOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRALIAN scientists have produced what they call the world’s first virtual tour of a stretch of ocean floor, an invention that could provide undersea mining prospectors with valuable geological and topographical information.
The 3D map covers 2 million sq km of the 11 million sq km of ocean over which Australia has sovereign rights, off the island continent’s south east shores.…