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Chilean lawmakers have presented a bill that would force mining companies including Anglo American Plc and BHP Billiton Plc to run all of their copper mines in Chile using desalinated water from the Pacific Ocean.

The lower chamber of deputies’ measure that was introduced last month would require mines using more than 150 liters (40 gallons) of water a second to incorporate seawater in their operations, according to a statement on the Congress website. A third of the world’s copper supply comes from Chilean mines.

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-02/chile-debates-bill-making-mines-use-desalinated-seawater.html

Coal and mineral production plan (in tonnes)
                             2014         2012   change          2013
                         (target)  (full year)    (YOY)       Jan-Nov
              Copper      370,000      448,000     -17%       370,000
                Gold           63           75     -16%            39
                 Tin       42,000       95,000     -56%        44,000
              Nickel    9,000,000   41,000,000     -78%    47,000,000
             Bauxite    1,000,000   30,000,000     -97%    47,000,000
            Iron ore   10,000,000   10,000,000       0%    15,000,000
                Coal  397,000,000  407,000,000      -2%   421,000,000
      Coal (exports)  324,000,000  304,000,000       7%   293,000,000
  Coal (consumption)   73,000,000   90,000,000     -19%    89,000,000
      Coal (domestic   95,600,000   67,300,000      42%    55,000,000
  market obligation)

Among the 178 companies, 25 have completed between 80 and 100 percent of
construction, and the rest are still carrying out feasibility studies,
environmental impact assessments and construction.

The total investment committed for these more serious projects reached $17.4
billion, he said, of which around $6 billion has been realised already.
    
The following table shows targetted production for various minerals for 2014
compared with realised output for 2012 and the first 11 months of 2013.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/27/indonesia-metals-idUSL3N0K61W920131227

Jakarta (ANTARA News) – Indonesia plans to review its coal and mineral mining Law Number 4 of 2009, which has triggered restlessness in the country.

In this regard, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invited former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra to his office on Tuesday.

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/91927/indonesia-to-review-coal-and-mineral-mining-law

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner and a top investor in U.S. onshore oil and gas, said on Tuesday its U.S. shale business should generate cash from 2016, contributing almost $3 billion a year to the group by the end of the decade.

BHP, one of the largest producers outside the major integrated oil companies, plans to spend around $4 billion a year to expand its U.S. onshore oil and gas production.

Read more at:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/10/bhpbilliton-petroleum-idUSL6N0JP3AO20131210

JAKARTA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — The Indonesian government and the Japanese consortium Nippon Asahan Aluminium (NAA) on Monday clinched a deal to terminate a contract that allows the latter to run PT Inalum (Indonesia Asahan Aluminium), thus paving the way for Indonesia to solely own the only aluminum smelter in the region.

Read more at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/131209/indonesian-govt-japanese-consortium-agree-terminate-smelter-

Small- and medium-sized domestic mineral miners voiced concerns on Friday that they lacked the funds to comply with a long-anticipated ban on unprocessed mineral exports, due to begin next year. The current regulation indirectly favors large international firms, they said.

“The national mining industry will die before it develops,” the Indonesian Mineral Entrepreneurs Association said in a statement on Friday.

The association, known as Apemindo, argued that local miners, most with operations less than 10 years old, did not have enough capital to build their own smelters. Apemindo said that the ban would benefit foreign mining companies that had been operating in the country for many years and had already accumulated sufficient profits to build their own smelters.

Read more at:

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/raw-mineral-export-ban-looms/

General Electric sees “tremendous upgrade opportunities” in China’s steel industry, the world’s largest, as more mills are revamping their facility to become more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The US giant expects Chinese mills, facing tighter environmental rules as they become global players, to require energy-efficient technologies and solutions on a big scale, although GE is unable to quantify the market size now, said Joe Mastrangelo, CEO of GE’s power conversion business.

Read more at:

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/Chinese_steel_mills_need_huge_upgrades_General_Electric/329250.html