MINEX Forum

Tag: Coal

  • RWE tears down operational wind turbines in grab for more coal

    RWE tears down operational wind turbines in grab for more coal

    The demolitions are part of a deal brokered with Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and Economics Minister for North Rhine Westphalia, Mona Neubaur, that is supposed to see RWE wind down its coal operations by 2030. RWE is Europe’s second largest CO2 emitter from coal power stations, and has razed over 100 villages in the Rhineland region to make way for its coal operations. Germany’s government is still aiming to exit coal by 2030.

    “The current climate emergency requires urgent and concerted efforts to accelerate the deployment of every single wind turbine, solar panel and heat pump that we can muster. Anything that diverts from this critical endeavour, especially the dismantling of renewable energy sources to extract more fossil fuels, must be unequivocally prohibited,” said Fabian Hübner, senior campaigner in Germany at Beyond Fossil Fuels.

  • Talon Energy welcomes acceleration of coal seam gas exploration in Mongolia by partner TMK Energy

    Talon Energy welcomes acceleration of coal seam gas exploration in Mongolia by partner TMK Energy

    Australian-led Terra Energy, which owns and operates the Baruun Noyon Uul Coal Mine within the Gurvantes XXXV Project area, will cooperate with TMK on a drilling and seismic acquisition program, sharing costs and resources.

    Accelerating exploration

    The accelerated exploration program includes a minimum of four fully cored exploration wells to be drilled and tested for coal seam gas (CSG) in this already well-defined coal-bearing deposit.

    This program has recently kicked off with the initial drilling being undertaken by Terra utilising contractors already engaged by Terra, with any subsequent testing activities to be managed by TMK.

    About Gurvantes project

    The Gurvantes XXXV Project, in which TMK Energy holds 67% and Talon Energy 33%, covers 8,400 square kilometres in what is considered one of the most prospective CSG basins globally.

    It is less than 20 kilometres from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the extensive Northern China gas transmission and distribution network as well as being near several large-scale mining operations with high energy needs.

    To cooperate

    The agreement sets the terms under which the parties agree to cooperate on exploration activities within the overlapping licence areas which will drive significant cost savings for both parties.

    As well as the drilling, the agreement with Terra includes ~40 kilometres of 2D seismic acquisition.

    Additional costs associated with testing specifically associated with CSG exploration will be borne 100% by the Gurvantes Project partners, while any other testing work required for the coal mining operations will be borne 100% by Terra.

    The term of the agreement is two years, however, this initial exploration program is only expected to take about two months. Further exploration may follow and if the activities are mutually beneficial, will be governed by the same agreement.

    Overlap in data

    The rights to explore for and develop coal resources and CSG resources are separate and unique, however, there is significant overlap in the geological data collected from drilling and exploration activities.

    TMK Energy’s CEO Brendan Stats said: “With drilling and construction of our pilot well program now complete, we have taken advantage of what is a very timely opportunity to immediately commence what could be another high impact, low-cost exploration program over an area which already has an extensive data set and where we know that coal targets are present.

    “We are pleased to have entered into this agreement with Terra Energy so quickly which will assist our efforts in accelerating an exploration program in this area.

    “Similar values”

    “Terra is an Australian-led mine operator, and we both share very similar values with respect to running a safe and efficient exploration program.

    “With the drilling program already commenced, we hope to have the opportunity to further add to our already significant 2C contingent resources identified at Nariin Sukhait if further CSG resources are identified in this exciting new area,” Stats said.

    “Strategic benefits”

    “The potential discovery of commercial CSG methane deposits within our mining licences may offer strategic benefits to Mongolia and for Terra, the ability to expand our coal production and to lower our operating costs in the years ahead by replacing diesel consumption with locally sourced methane gas,” Terra Energy executive director Matthew Crawford said.

  • Bishkek Mayor’s Office initiates ban on sale and burning of Kara-Keche coal

    Bishkek Mayor’s Office initiates ban on sale and burning of Kara-Keche coal

    Bishkek Mayor’s Office initiated a ban on sale and burning of coal from the Kara-Keche coal field in 4 districts of the capital, Kyrgyz coal state enterprise reported.

    Coal from Shabyrkul coal is sold at fuel depots of the city at 6,000 soms for a ton.

    The decision may be changed since Kazakhstan imposes restrictions on export of coal, the Kyrgyz coal state enterprise stated.

  • Court suspends case against Poland’s Turów coal mine

    Court suspends case against Poland’s Turów coal mine

    The decision, which allows the mine to continue operating for the time being, was welcomed by the Polish government. However, the environmental groups that brought the case have expressed disappointment that the proceedings will drag on further.

    It marks the latest twist in a long-running legal battle over the mine, which has also drawn in Poland’s neighbours, the Czech Republic and Germany, whose borders are close to Turów.

    The provincial administrative court in Warsaw had yesterday been due to rule on the environmental decision that granted Turów, an open pit brown coal mine that feeds a nearby power station, a concession to operate until 2044.

    Instead, the court suspended the case because parallel proceedings before the General Directorate for Environmental Protection (GDOŚ) regarding an application from the mine’s owner – state-owned energy firm PGE – to amend the environmental decision have not been concluded.

    The judge noted that PGE recently withdrew its bid to amend the environmental decision, which led GDOŚ to discontinue proceedings. However, she stressed that, until the discontinuation becomes final and binding, the administrative court cannot rule on the legality of the permit.

    This development was welcomed by government figures, who argue that the mine and power plant in Turów are essential for Poland’s energy security.

    “The fight for Turow continues,” wrote climate minister Anna Moskwa. State assets minister Jacek Sasin called it “a key decision for Poland’s energy security”, adding that “the functioning of the mine is not threatened and the mining concession is valid until 2044”.

    Even before the ruling was issued, Moskwa had insisted that the mine would remain open whatever happened. “Obviously, regardless of this ruling and decision – because we have different experiences – Turow will not be closed. We will defend energy security,” she told Polskie Radio.

    A lawyer from one of the environmental groups that has challenged the legality of the environmental decision, Agnieszka Stupkiewicz of Frank Bold, admitted that the court had no choice but to suspend proceedings.

    However, she criticised the “scandalous” behaviour GDOŚ, saying that the agency had not kept parties in the case nor the administrative court informed of PGE’s decision to withdraw its bid to amend the environmental decision.

    Her group and other climate organisations from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany brought their case against the environmental decision last year, arguing that there were a number of shortcomings in how it was reached, including a failure to take account of the mine’s impact on the climate.

    In July, the provincial administrative court in Warsaw ordered the environmental permit to be provisionally suspended ahead of a final ruling, finding that there is a risk of significant environmental damage.

    That decision was, however, later overturned by the Supreme Administrative Court. It meant that the mine was allowed to continue functioning until a final ruling on the environmental decision is issued by the Warsaw court.

    Meanwhile, yesterday’s decision by the court to suspend proceedings was welcomed PGE’s CEO, Wojciech Dąbrowski, who said that “Turów mine and power plant will remain one of Poland’s most important sources of energy for at least 20 years”.

    “From the very beginning, we have not recognised the legitimacy of any allegations made against the environmental decision on the Turów mine,” he added.

    His comments come just a day after PGE presented a new strategy to become carbon neutral by 2040, including abandoning the use of coal by 2030. That will be achieved in part by a government plan to transfer energy firm’s coal assets to a single, separate entity.

     

     

  • Poland Nears Coal Glut Prompting Powerful Union to Raise Alarm

    Poland Nears Coal Glut Prompting Powerful Union to Raise Alarm

    (Bloomberg) — Poland’s hard-coal reserves have almost doubled since last year, prompting a powerful union to warn about the consequences for the country’s own miners just months before a tightly contested parliamentary election.

    “We hear that state companies import large amounts of coal, while coal extracted from Polish mines is not being collected,” Boguslaw Hutek, the head of the powerful Solidarity miners’ union, said in a statement. “State-owned companies should not act against the interest of each other.”

    Coal stockpiles jumped 83% to 10.8 million tons in May from a year earlier, according to energy think tank Instrat. The government in Warsaw, which banned Russian coal imports in March 2022, prompted state-run energy producers to import heavily from countries like Colombia, Kazakhstan and South Africa to avoid shortages.

     

    Coal has long been politically important in Poland, where 75,000 are employed as miners and millions of households depend on the fuel for heating. Aging coal plants provide about 70% of the nation’s electricity.

    Poland is poised to hold its parliamentary election in October. Opinion polls have shown the two main parties short of the support needed to rule independently, putting smaller parties in the position of potential kingmakers after the election.

  • Montenegro’s Rudnik Uglja net profit rises in H1

    Montenegro’s Rudnik Uglja net profit rises in H1

    August 1 (SeeNews) – Montenegro’s coal mining company Rudnik Uglja [MNG:RUPV] said on Friday that its net profit soared to 1.1 million euro ($1.2 million) in the first half of 2023 from 53,770 euro in the like period of last year.

    Rudnik Uglja’s revenue rose to 26.9 million euro from 20.5 million euro, while operating costs grew 19.5% to 14.1 million euro, Rudnik Uglja said in an interim financial statement filed with the Montenegro Stock Exchange on Monday.

    Following are details of Rudnik Uglja’s financial performance (in millions of euro):

    H1 ’23 H1 ’22
    Operating costs 14.109 11.787
    Revenue 26.857 20.472
    Net profit 1.130 0.530

    $ = 0.9112 euro

  • The Future of Coal in Bulgaria’s Energy Market

    The Future of Coal in Bulgaria’s Energy Market

    The future of coal in Bulgaria’s energy market is a topic of significant debate and concern, as the country grapples with the challenges of climate change, air pollution, and the need to transition to cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy. As a member of the European Union, Bulgaria is subject to the bloc’s ambitious climate and energy targets, which include a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and to increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix to at least 32% by 2030. These targets have important implications for the role of coal in Bulgaria’s energy market, as the country currently relies heavily on coal-fired power plants for electricity generation, particularly lignite coal, which is a highly polluting and carbon-intensive fuel.

    In recent years, there have been growing calls for Bulgaria to phase out coal and transition to cleaner sources of energy, such as renewable energy and natural gas. This has been driven not only by the need to comply with EU climate and energy targets but also by concerns about the negative impacts of coal on public health and the environment. Air pollution from coal-fired power plants is a major problem in Bulgaria, with the country consistently ranking among the worst in Europe for air quality. According to a recent report by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), air pollution from coal-fired power plants in Bulgaria is responsible for an estimated 1,660 premature deaths, 1,600 cases of chronic bronchitis, and 2,200 hospital admissions each year.

    Despite these challenges, the future of coal in Bulgaria’s energy market remains uncertain, as the country faces significant economic, social, and political barriers to phasing out coal. One of the main challenges is the lack of alternative employment opportunities for workers in the coal industry, which is a major source of jobs and income in some regions of the country. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 12,000 people are directly employed in the coal sector in Bulgaria, with many more jobs indirectly linked to the industry. The closure of coal mines and power plants could therefore have significant social and economic consequences, particularly in regions where coal is the main employer.

    Another challenge is the need to ensure energy security and affordability for consumers, as Bulgaria currently relies on coal for around 40% of its electricity generation. While renewable energy and natural gas have the potential to replace coal in the energy mix, there are concerns about the costs and reliability of these alternatives, particularly in the short to medium term. The Bulgarian government has also been criticized for its lack of ambition and clarity in its plans for the energy transition, with critics arguing that the country’s current energy strategy does not go far enough in addressing the challenges of climate change and air pollution.

    In conclusion, the future of coal in Bulgaria’s energy market is a complex and contested issue, with significant challenges and uncertainties ahead. While there is a clear need for the country to phase out coal and transition to cleaner sources of energy, this will require a careful balancing act between the competing demands of climate and energy policy, economic development, and social justice. It will also require strong political leadership and a clear vision for the future of the energy sector, as well as support from the European Union and other international partners in addressing the financial, technical, and capacity-building challenges of the energy transition. Ultimately, the future of coal in Bulgaria’s energy market will depend on the ability of the country to navigate these challenges and seize the opportunities of a cleaner, more sustainable, and more resilient energy system.

  • Miners from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina to protest in Sarajevo

    Miners from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina to protest in Sarajevo

    The Federation of Independent Unions of Mine Workers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not leave the miners of the Zenica Brown Coal Mine alone in their struggle for the right to pay, and tomorrow in Sarajevo in front of the building of the ruling company Public Company Elektroprivreda BiH will hold the announced protest, President of the USSR FBiH Sinan Husić said today in Zenica.

    After today’s session of the Presidency of the USSRRFBiH in Zenica, he announced that tomorrow at the protests in Sarajevo, which will be organized from 11 am to 2 pm, there will be 500 workers from seven mines of the JP EPBiH Concern.

    “We are not asking for anyone to receive us tomorrow. We are coming to express our huge dissatisfaction with everything that is happening… Tomorrow we want to say that we are united,” said Husić, reports Fena news agency.

    As he said, they tried to direct them from some structures of the EPBiH to some other addresses, in order to solve the issue of salary payment for Zenica miners.

    “But we say: Miners are always at the right address and the state, what are you waiting for?! If what we are going to do does not bear fruit tomorrow, the state must do what the state needs to do and end the suffering and suffering of 830 workers of RMU Zenica,” said Husić.

    He underlined that the Zenica miners must receive their salary for June, as they received for the month of May according to the Agreement signed on July 3, after last month’s suspension of production in that mine.

    He noted that they have already sent a letter to the address of the new FBiH Minister of Energy, Industry and Mining, Vedran Lakić, in which they request that “RMU Zenica must be the first issue to be dealt with.

    “We need to carry out an analysis from beginning to end, see on the human resources plan what we have, what is possible, with incentive severance pay, retirement, what is possible to do on the mutual termination of the employment contract, what is possible to redirect from certain services to production processes… at the end of the day, we need to re-examine where those people are, who only on paper claim to be workers of RMU Zenica, because that’s what production and workers from the production process are telling us these days, there are such people. We put it on paper,” says Husić.

    As he added, he has information that this morning the director of RMU Zenica was ordered by the relevant ministry “to do what we are talking about”.

    Regarding the need to review the relationship between the mines of that concern and the governing society EPBiH, Husić expressed the hope that the new Government of the Federation of BiH and the future leadership of the EP BiH “will not be afraid of the determination of the Trade Union for those processes”.

    As a reminder, due to the situation in the Zenica Brown Coal Mine, the board of directors of the Association of Independent Unions of Mine Workers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina recently made a decision to organize a protest that will be held tomorrow, August 1, in front of the building of the Public Enterprise Elektroprivreda BiH in Sarajevo.

    They point out that due to the unpaid salary for June and allowance for a hot meal for the month of May, the Zenica miners stopped production on Tuesday, July 25 in the second shift, when a group of 30 miners decided not to leave the “Raspotočje” pit where they spent two nights.

    They stated earlier that according to the Agreement signed on July 3, the Zenica miners should have received a reduced salary by July 25, but that this did not happen.

    They had a similar situation when they had agreed on almost the same conclusions with the City of Zenica for account unblocking and when they had the support of JP EPBiH, while this time they have no understanding from the current management of the governing company of the seven coal mines of the Federation of BiH.

    Elektroprivreda Bosnia and Herzegovina previously said that the payment of wages is not their responsibility, but the responsibility of the director of the Zenica Brown Coal Mine.

  • JSW presents its integrated report for 2022

    JSW presents its integrated report for 2022

    JSW has been publishing integrated reports since 2018 in response to the growing needs of the Group’s stakeholders, who require detailed information beyond the traditional set of operational or financial indicators to fully understand the directions of JSW’s development.

    It is worth adding that in 2022 JSW won first place in “The Best Annual Report” competition organized by the Institute of Accountancy and Taxes in the 2021 integrated report category. This confirms the Company’s great contribution to the creation of value in use for shareholders and investors and the promotion of best practices in non-financial reporting in the area of sustainable development.

    The 2022 integrated report will familiarize readers with the context of the Group’s market environment, explaining the unique status of the Group’s core products, i.e. coking coal and coke, against the backdrop of the changes taking place in the economy in light of the energy transition and the pursuit of climate neutrality. Both financial and non-financial data were presented using interactive tools to facilitate analysis and allow references to indicators recorded in previous years.

    Link to the report: www.jsw.pl/raportroczny-2022/en

  • IEA says coal use hit an all-time high last year — and global demand will persist near record levels

    IEA says coal use hit an all-time high last year — and global demand will persist near record levels

    Coal consumption increased by 3.3% to hit a fresh record high of 8.3 billion metric tons in 2022, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

    According to the Paris-based organization’s Coal Market Update, demand increased “despite a weaker global economy, mainly driven by being more readily available and relatively cheaper than gas in many parts of the world.”

    Overall, the IEA said 10,440 terawatt hours were generated from coal in 2022, a figure that accounted for 36% of the planet’s electricity generation.

    Looking ahead, the IEA said coal consumption in 2023 would remain near last year’s record levels.

    Geographically, the picture in 2023 is mixed. “By region, coal demand fell faster than previously expected in the first half of this year in the United States and the European Union — by 24% and 16%, respectively,” the IEA said in a statement accompanying its report.

    “However, demand from the two largest consumers, China and India, grew by over 5% during the first half, more than offsetting declines elsewhere,” it added.

    Coal is a fossil fuel. Its use has a substantial impact on the environment, with environmental organization Greenpeace describing it as “the dirtiest, most polluting way of producing energy.”

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration, meanwhile, lists a range of emissions related to the burning of coal, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and nitrogen oxides.

    “Coal is the largest single source of carbon emissions from the energy sector, and in Europe and the United States, the growth of clean energy has put coal use into structural decline,” Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of energy markets and security, said Thursday.

    “But demand remains stubbornly high in Asia, even as many of those economies have significantly ramped up renewable energy sources,” he added.

    Going forward, Sadamori said “greater policy efforts and investments” were needed in order to “drive a massive surge in clean energy and energy efficiency to reduce coal demand in economies where energy needs are growing fast.”