A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

World’s number one miner BHP Billiton under ex-CEO Marius Kloppers deserve (and take) much of the credit for dragging the iron ore market out of the financial stone age.

By pushing hard against bigger rivals Vale and Rio Tinto which favoured the old annual negotiated contract system, in 2009 BHP helped double the price of iron ore overnight.

Just for good measure, free-on-board pricing were also dropped in favour of CFR which gave Australian producers a huge advantage over South African and particularly Vale’s Brazilian ore, reaping billions for the industry.

BHP has been working hard to repeat the 2010 move in the coking coal market, but has so far met with little success.

Read more at: http://www.mining.com/bhp-cant-do-for-coking-coal-prices-what-it-did-for-iron-ore-11914/

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The U.S. Department of Energy is soliciting for another round of research into methane hydrates, the potentially huge energy source of “frozen gas” that could step in for shortages of other fossil fuels.

The department is looking for research projects on the North Slope of Alaska that could explore how to economically extract the gas locked in ice far below the Earth’s surface.

DOE is also seeking researchers to document methane hydrate deposits in outer continental shelf waters of coastal states.

Read more at: http://www.startribune.com/nation/255078041.html

Coking coal producer Mechel has agreed to boost its annual supplies to Chinese steelmaker Baosteel by 25% year-on-year, the Russian company said on Thursday April 10.

At first glance, the LNG export boom in the United States seems to be well under way. After all, the Department of Energy has accelerated the pace of approvals for such projects, signing off on six new LNG export permits in the past year alone.

Eventually, these new projects will cover five sites and result in 8.47 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of LNG exports. But right now, they’re being bogged down by further bureaucratic red tape.

Read more at: http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2014/04/10/u-s-lng/

The miner has submitted documents to the Federal Environment Department revealing plans for its Caroona underground mine saying it could export 10 million tonnes per year of high quality thermal coal with production starting as early as 2021.

Read more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/bhp-seeks-approval-for-largest-underground-coal-mine/story-e6frg9df-1226877986419

SYDNEY, April 7 (Reuters) – Rio Tinto has lost a legal fight to expand its Warkworth coal mine in Australia, which the global miner said was necessary to maintain viability as coal markets weaken.

Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/07/australia-rio-tinto-mine-idINL3N0MZ03F20140407

There’s increasing evidence that Chinese demand for commodities, especially thermal coal and iron ore, could slow in the next few years. Legendary short-seller Jim Chanos has made his opinions on China’s seemingly insatiable demand for iron ore and coal well known. Over the last 12 months or so he’s been proved correct, but few investors really understand why.

Put simply, China has been experiencing a boom in real estate construction. The reasons for this are varied, but include the fact that the Chinese leaders tend to aim for a certain rate of GDP growth, and fund the construction necessary to achieve that. This tendency is evident from the fact that net exports have been trending down as a percentage of GDP. The chart below shows Chinese exports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP, although if you believe Chanos’ numbers (regarding exports of goods alone from 2007 – 2013), then the trend is much clearer.

Read more at: http://www.fool.com.au/2014/04/07/is-a-coal-crash-coming-bhp-billiton-limited-and-rio-tinto-limited-are-selling-coalmines/