BHPB to sell Elouera coking coal mine to Gujarat NRE FCGL

BHP Billiton and Gujarat NRE FCGL Pty Ltd announced that they have reached agreement on sale & purchase of BHPBs Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltds Elouera mine in NSW of Australia for AUD 49 million. Sale of the mine is subject to various conditions precedent including completion of the transfer of the coal lease, and associated licenses to Gujarat. This would be the third coking coal mine to be acquired by the Gujarat NRE Resources after NRE No 1 Colliery and NRE Avondale Colliery.

The sale includes the mine, associated land holdings and the responsibility for rehabilitation and closure of the mine once operations are complete. Highlights of the proposed acquisition are
1. The mine is in operation and capable of producing coking coal on transfer to the Gujarat NRE Resources.
2. Availability of premium grade of hard coking coal reserves
3. The mine has substantial infrastructure for coal storage and transportation, which includes a private rail link to port.
4. Located in proximity to the two existing coking coal mines, thus giving logistic operational advantage.
5. The mine would provide a cheaper and faster option to access the NRE Avondale Colliery.
6. Along with the mining lease Gujarat NRE Resources will also acquire mining equipment and freehold title to land associated with the mining lease.

The mine has large available reserves of premium grade hard coking coal, as referenced in BHP Billiton's 2006 Annual Report. Mining operations at Elouera by BHP Billiton were completed in 2005 since then the mine has been operated under a limited contract mining agreement with Delta Mining Company which was finalized in March 2007. Gujarat NRE already owns the neighboring Avondale Colliery, which is also closed. It plans to reopen both within the next year to produce 1 million tonnes of hard coking coal a year initially and then ramp up output to at least 2 million tonnes a year.

Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka chairman Gujarat NRE Resources said that "Gujarat is delighted with the acquisition. Apart from providing quality infrastructure and mining equipment for Gujarat's Southern Coalfields production strategy, including a private rail link, it gives the Company additional coking coal reserves. The acquisition also means that Avondale should be able to come into production much sooner than we had anticipated. Because we own the adjacent lease, we saw the infrastructure could be used to give us much easier access. It became a natural fit for us."

Indias Steel Industry report optimistic on domestic demand

Recently released study by Dr AS Firoz Indias Steel Industry: Critical Details, Evolving Structure and Strategic Options while addressing some very critical issues on steel demand in India has concluded with a positive outlook.

It said that Steel demand in India will certainly rise at a good pace for a few more years. The long term prospects although look good, the overall uncertainty and complexities of the sociopolitical system have raised doubts over the same. As it has happened in the past, questions have been asked now, if the Indian growth story has already come to an end. This may be the pessimistic outlook. We remain positive on the demand side.

The report said that urbanization and housing are the real drivers of steel growth. India has a large and relatively young population. The percentage of the population living in the rural and semi urban areas is huge. There is immense potential from infrastructure. But, pace of it remains slow to support realization of industrys full potential.

The report added that Demand for flat products will rise faster. However, the share of long products will remain overwhelmingly higher in the coming years under consideration. The growth in demand for cut to length plates, electrical steel sheets, cold rolled sheets will be significant. The market for high alloy steel has always been undermined. There are reasons to remain strongly positive here.

If you are interested to know more about the report, please visit www.steelguru.com/Indian_Steel/Indian_Steel.php or send a mail to editor@steelguru.com.

CCCMC prices for Indian iron ore up by USD 2 to USD 3

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters has released on May 14th 2007 the average reference prices for import transactions of Fe 63.5% Indian iron ore concluded last week.

USD per tonne
The change is with respect to prices posted last week

The change is with respect to the prices posted on May 8th 2007. The reference price practice is intended to regulate the domestic trading of Indian iron ore and avoid speculation on the raw material for China's booming steel industry.

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters is the largest trading association in China.

POSCO employees taken hostage again at Nuagaon village

Statesman News Service reported that 2 project officials of POSCO were taken captive for a couple of hours when they had gone to conduct a free health camp at Nuagaon village by activists of another anti POSCO outfit Naba Nirman Samiti.

As per report, Mr Debasis Swain and Mr Prasant Mohanty of POSCO went to Nuagaon village to start a health camp, but women activists of Naba Nirman Samiti surrounded them, demanding that the two company workers leave the village immediately and subsequently they were forced to return.

Mr Askhya chief of Naba Nirman Samiti said that the aim of POSCO to continue public awareness and health camp at Nuagaon and Gadakujang panchyat would not at all succeed because the women activists had united to protest against POSCO project. He said that Naba Nirman Samiti and Rastriya Yuba Sangthan had decided to conduct public meeting at Nuagaon to mobilize public opinion against POSCO project.

Mr Swain along with 1 more employee of POSCO had been detained for 10 hours at Dhinkia by PPSS activists last Friday and was released only after giving an undertaking that they would not enter the village again.

As per report, the district authorities have repeatedly requested company employees not to enter the affected village without giving prior information or without consulting the local police. But POSCO is continuing its efforts to woo the people to be displaced by its project.

Essar refutes charges on Hazira SEZ

It is reported that Essar groups special economic zone for steel at Hazira in Gujarat has come under a controversy after revenue department slapped a customs duty evasion case against it. The reports also mention that customs is also carrying out investigations on whether the zone started operations before it was notified in September 2006.

The revenue department claims that after starting production, Essar did not pay customs duty on a part of the sale made to the domestic tariff area. Revenue official suspect sales might have taken place prior to the notification since the set up was in place months before the notification of the SEZ. An ET report cites an official as saying that The directorate general of Customs & excise intelligence has started investigations to ascertain when exactly production and sales from the steel plant located within the SEZ started. A decision would be taken after the investigation is complete.

Essar has however clarified that the issue is one of interpretation of SEZ rules, which have undergone a number of amendments since the SEZ Act was enacted in February 2006.

Mr Prashant Ruia director of Essar refuted the allegation of the SEZ land already having units in it before it applied for the zone to be approved. He said The land was vacant. It is a brand new facility and anyone can verify this fact. We have already invested INR 1,000 crore for setting up a 4 million tonne steel plant. We have appraised the government of the facts, paid the duty and took the safe route of not treating ourselves as a SEZ from October. By not treating ourselves as a SEZ we did not avail of the number of benefits that are available under the policy. Just because we were cautious, we cannot be penalized.

Mr Ruia said the Hazira SEZ got in principle approval last October and the final approval came on January 11 2007. He said We took two months to complete this formality and the customs department formally certified us a customs bonded area on March 20, 2007. Mr Ruia added that till recently there was a lack of clarity on the SEZ rules and therefore, the interpretation of the rules took time. He said After January 11, we took two months to complete various formalities. It has been our stance that we first complete formalities and only then function as an SEZ.

Essar had approached the government for approval of its Hazira SEZ in December 2005. The government had then advised the company to wait for some time till the rules were notified as the SEZ rules were in the process of being finalized. The reports claim that Essar however went ahead with the construction work while the final approval was awaited. In June 2006 when the board of approvals gave a nod and it was notified in September 2006. Under SEZ rules, a developer has to file an affidavit stating that the land area of the zone is completely vacant and without any kind of industrial activity when the application is filed. The policy does not allow conversion of existing units into SEZs.

Surana Industries awards contracts for Raichur plant

Project Today reported that Surana Industries has awarded the contract worth INR 58 crore for boilers, ESP & turbine for its 35 MW captive power plant for an integrated steel plant in Raichur district of Karnataka. Surana Industries has placed order of INR 36 crore to Cethar Vessels in Trichy for boilers, INR 14 crores to Qingdao Jieneng Power Station Engineering Co China & Associated Power Team of Hyderabad for Turbine and INR 8 crore to Thermax in Pune for ESP.

Cethar Vessels will install design engineering, manufacture, assembly, erection, startup, testing, commissioning and guarantee performance testing of one 110 tonnes per hour, 66 KSCA,495 + 5 deg C Fluidised Bed Combustion Boiler and its auxiliaries and four numbers of 10.5 TPH, 68 KSCA, 495 + 5 C waste heat recovery boiler and auxiliaries.

Qingdao Jieneng Power station Engineering & Associated Power Team will install design, engineering, manufacture, assembly, testing, erection start up, commissioning & guarantee performance testing of 35 MW turbo generator and auxiliaries.

Thermax will install design, engineering, manufacture, assembly, erection, startup, testing, commissioning and guarantee performance testing of four numbers of ESP, ID Fan and Flue gas ducting work for 10.5 tonnes per hour WHRB and one ESP for 1x110 tonnes per hour AFBC boiler.

Suranas proposed INR 473 crore steel plant will have capacity to produce 0.128 million tonnes of sponge iron, 0.225 million tonnes of steel melting shop and 0.2 million tonnes of rolling mill annually. The facility will have 30 MW captive power plants and is expected to be operational by March 2008.

Bhushan Steel Limiteds WB plant to get ready in 5 years

Moneycontrol.com reported that Bhushan Steel Limited, which has announced investment of INR 8000 crore for setting up a 2 million tonne steel plant in Bengal, plans to bring the facility in 5 years time after getting land.

Mr Nitin Johri CFO of Bhusan Steel Limited while giving an exclusive interview with CNBCTV18 said that We have signed a MoU with the West Bengal government. The timeframe to implement the 2 million tonne of a steel plant and 1000 MW of power is 5 years one year after getting the land.

Mr Johri added that the land acquisition process for the project will start now and will take at least about a year. Once that is done, the process of implementation will start and we will be informing everybody.

Suzlon Energys 2006-07 net profit up by 29.2% YoY

Suzlon Energy Ltd has posted unaudited net profit of INR 4378.20 million for the quarter ended March 31st 2007 up by 21.56% YoY as against INR 3601.60 million for the same period last year. While its total income is INR 20975.50 this quarter up by 32.78% YoY as against INR 15796.00 million for the same period last year.

Suzlon Energy Ltd has posted audited net profit of INR 10611.40 million for 2006-07 up by 29.21% YoY as against INR 8211.90 million for the same period last year. Its total income is INR 54684.70 million for the year ended March 31st 2007 up by 41.75% YoY as against INR 38577.40 million for the same period last year.

The stand alone results for the quarter & year ended March 31st 2007 do not include the sale of tubular towers aggregating approximately INR 2765.30 million and INR 6060 million respectively which have been sold through the wholly owned subsidiary.

Suzlon Energy Ltd has also announced that as on date its order book position is at INR 9,486.25 crores comprising of INR 1408.26 crores of domestic orders and INR 8,077.99 crores of export order

Suzlon Energy Ltd has become the second largest wind energy gearbox manufacturer in the world after it purchased 100% of the share capital of Eve Holding NV in Belgium for INR 25026.40 million through its wholly owned subsidiary, AE-Rotor Holding BV on May 9th 2006 and has 100% ownership of Hansen Transmissions International NV Belgium along with its subsidiaries.

India encouraging import of cement to augment availability

The import of cement into India is under open general license and anyone can import the requisite quantity provided it conforms to the BIS standards.

Mr Jairam Ramesh minister of state for commerce informed the Lok Sabha that in order to augment domestic availability of cement, the import duty on cement was brought down to zero from 12.5% as on January 21st 2007. In addition to the above, the ministry of finance has removed the countervailing duty equivalent to the excise duty and special additional custom duty of 4% on cement with effect from 3rd April 2007.

But the importers have to adhere to the cement quality control order 2003, which provides for mandatory BIS certification.

Indian government in its budget announcement has also introduced excise duty of INR 600 per tonne of cement with MRP more than INR 190 per bag and excise duty of INR 300 per million tonnes on cement with MRP of INR 190 or less per bag.

NTPCs 1000MW Mouda plant to take off

PTI reported that National Thermal Power Corporation will be setting up a 1000 MW mega power project at Mouda district in Maharashtra with an investment of INR 5000 crores. The project which remained on paper for quite some time has finally been cleared by all concerned agencies and NTPC has floated necessary tenders inviting bids for the project.

The tenders for the project were floated on May 1st 2007 and last date for submission is June 1st 2007 while bids will open on July 11th 2007.

Mr Subodh Mohite former MP of Ramtek told reporters that "The project has been given the status of mega one which will reduce the cost since concessions are extended on sales tax, excise duty and other taxes." He said the coal linkage has been received from Mahanadi coalfields in Orissa and water will be pumped from nearby irrigation project Gosikhurd.

HCC & Costal Project JV irrigation project in AP

It is reported that Hindustan Construction Co in JV with Coastal Projects has received an order worth INR 735 crore from the Andhra Pradesh government for irrigation tunnel work of the Pula Subbaiah Veligonda Project. The project is expected to complete in 60 months from the date of conclusion of agreement.

The contract includes investigation, design, execution and construction of 18.8 kilometer of 9.2 meter internal diameter tunnel for the water transmission system linking Srisailam Reservoir upto Guntur Kurnool road to join into the Feeder canal. The contract also includes operation & maintenance of the tunnel for a period of 2 years after successful commissioning of the tunnel.

HCC is currently executing 3 major projects in Andhra Pradesh, which include Godavari Lift Irrigation Phase I in JV with KBL and Phase II in JV with NCC and a 30 kilometers long highway of NHAI on NH-7 under North-South Corridor on BOT basis.

Chinas April crude steel production crosses 40 million tonne mark

Reuter reported that Chinas April crude steel output has hit a monthly record of 40.32 million tonnes up by 16.5% YoY as mills expanded to cash in on high prices at home and abroad despite Beijings efforts to cool down the sector. Chinas steel products output also jumped 20.9% YoY to 46.27 million tonnes in April.

As per report, Chinas January to April 2007 crude steel production increased by 21.2% YoY to 155.09 million tonnes and steel products output is up by 24.4% YoY at 172.21 million tonnes.

Mr Li Shijun deputy secretary general of China Iron and Steel Association said that Steel production is out of control. But the steel consuming industries are even crazier. The central government wants the steel sector to cool down, but not the local governments. They expand as long as they can make money. Mr Li added that "What the government should control is not the steel industry, but the industries which use steel.

USs Eminence unveil plans for 30 million tonne plant in Vietnam

US based Eminence Group has presented its gargantuan plan to invest USD 30 billion to build a mother of all steel complex in the central province of Thanh Hoa in Vietnam for which raw materials will be imported from Indonesia, China, Australia and Brazil. The project will consist of a big steel complex and supporting works including a deep water port, thermo power plant, shipyard, cement plant, and urban area. It will also have kindergartens and a university, research institute, general hospital, five star hotel and 400 steel downstream factories.

The new mill will be completed in 2 phases. In the first phase of 2007- 2013, it will require an estimated investment of USD 8 billion to produce 12 million tonnes of product annually. The second phase of 2013-2020 will see USD 18 billion pumped into the mill with annual production to rise to 30 million tons. Eminence will also spend USD 4 billion in building supporting works like a deep water seaport, an electricity plant and a shipyard among other facilities to serve the steel mega plant.

According to Eminence representative, the group has prepared the project for 5 years before deciding to invest in Nghi Son. Representatives from big institutions in the world attended its presentation, including ADB, Deutsche Bank in London, TFG international consultant, Hyder Consulting Ltd, Dragon Capital Investment Fund Management Company, Davis Landon Seah financial group.

Mr Philipe from TFG, the official consultant to the project, said that there were four things Eminence requires from TFG including nominating and selecting consultants to the project, uniting financial institutions to arrange capital for the project, raising funds among international banking community and negotiating with equipment providers. He said that many big commercial banks in the world have expressed their interest in the project, but none of them had made an official statement about funding the project.

Hyder Consulting Ltd will take responsibility for the technical issues of the project, while David Landon Seah will be in charge of financial consultancy. The two companies will get set to build the feasibility study for the project, which is expected to be completed at the end of 2007, before the project is officially kicked off in early 2008.

Eminence now has 12 iron mines with the total reserve of 1.22 billion tonnes in Indonesia, China, Australia, Brazil, coke coal mines with the reserve of 200 million tonnes in China and some other countries.

The Nghi Son EZ, which has the surface area of 18,000 hectare, is considered the best place for making investment in the north thanks to deep water port and favorable transport.

China may put more measures to curb steel exports

Market participants are concerned that the roaring export trade may force Beijing to impose even harsher measures to bring down steel export. And it's widely expected that the authority would levy export tax on low end products and raise up threshold for exporters in near future.

Mr Chen Xianwen a senior official with CISA told the newspaper at the sidelines of a recent iron ore conference that "If the last round of export tax rebate revision and the upcoming licensing control on May 20 fail to bring down steel exports, another round of export tax revisions can very much be expected.

According to sources close to the policymakers, cited by China Securities News, Chinese Government is considering further export tax on certain low end products and trim down steel exporters by introducing strict threshold. The informed sources reveal that the authority are studying an export tax regime of 5% or 10% to be put on either all the 83 steel exports subject to the new export license system or the wire rod and rebar products. Moreover, they are working on setting detailed standards for exporters. The government may add export taxes to some low value steel products including wire rod and rebar and reduce the existing tax rebate on tube export.

Despite the government's efforts to cap steel export volume, China's export remains huge due mainly to lingering wide gap between China's steel price and that on international market. The latest Customs figures show that China's finished steel exports hit 7.16 million tonnes in April, setting a new record after peaking at 5.55 million tonnes in last December 2006. China's finished steel exports totaled 21.28 million tonnes in the first four months of the year, up 132% YoY. Export volume in the first four months reported ratio of 13.5%, 14%, 15.7% and 20% against total output

Robust global demand and Chinese exporters' eagerness to ship cargoes during the remaining few days before tax rebates were cut resulted in exceptionally strong export business from China in April. However, before the licenses take effect, the enterprises will try to export as much as possible, hence leading to similarly massive export volume in May.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

US metals shipments and inventories decline

According to the latest the Metals Activity Report from US based Metals Service Center Institute, with economic activity and shipments slowing, US metals service centers continued in April with a steady liquidation of steel and aluminum inventories and in Canada, the service center inventory correction for both steel and aluminum appears to have ended.

USs April steel shipments of 4.5 million tons were 1.5% lower than 2006 volume marking the eighth consecutive month of YoY monthly shipment declines. Shipments for the first four months of 2007 at 18.2 million tons were down by 5.4% during the same period in 2006. Steel inventories declined for the sixth consecutive month to 14.6 million tons the lowest level since May 2006 although still 4.5% greater than the April 2006 inventory total.

April shipments from Canadian service centers totaled 308,100 tons of steel products down by 5.9% from the 2006 month and the ninth consecutive month of YoY shipment decreases. Year to date shipments of nearly 1.3 million tons were down by 5.8% in Canada. But steel inventories rose slightly from March levels to 1.29 million tons up by 17.7% from 2006 and at current shipping rates equal to a 4.2-month supply.

MSCI was founded in 1909 and has more than 420 members operating from about 1,200 locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and elsewhere in the world. Together, MSCI members constitute the largest single group of metals purchasers in North America amounting each year to more than 65 million tons of steel, aluminum, and other metals with about 300,000 manufacturers and fabricators as customers.

Criteria for issuance of steel export license under consideration

China Iron & Steel Association announced that criteria for steel export license system, which will be effective from May 20th 2007, are under deliberation and a preliminary thought has been formed.

Mr Luo Bingsheng secretary general of CISA said that the criteria will give consideration to many factors such as the enterprises' export volume fame comprehensive competitiveness and performance in energy saving and environment protection. He added that so far no formal criteria have been hammered out. He also noted the release of the criteria would be accelerated providing steel exports shoot up as during the past four months.

The export license will be valid for only three months since its release. Chinese steel exporters can apply for export licenses on www.ec.com.cn for finished steel products and they can obtain the certificate three work days after the application. Traders can also apply at the provincial Department of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation, or municipal Commission for Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, with copy of contract, business license and application form. One license can only be used once for a specific contract for Chinese steel exporters. Those with foreign investments can use the same license for up to 12 times. Only four different products-in the same contract-could be filled in the same application form, and exporters need to apply for two of the above licenses for more than four types of products.

As per directive of Chinas ministry of commerce, China will implement export license system on steel products under 83 tariff codes from May 20th 2007 and exporters must obtain the permits from provincial governments. However, so far there are no detailed criteria for the license.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)

Klkner & Co expands operations in Southern Germany

It is reported that Klkner & Co AG is systematically advancing its expansion of the European business after significantly strengthening its position in North America through the purchase of Primary Steel.

Following successful restructuring, the German Klkner & Co company, Klkner Stahl- und Metallhandel GmbH has concluded contracts for the acquisition of three distribution companies in Southern Germany. These companies are the Edelstahlservice Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH in Frankfurt am Main, steel distribution of Max Carl GmbH & Co KG in Coburg and the steel distribution of Zweygart Fachhandelsgruppe GmbH & Co. KG in Stuttgart.

Edelstahlservice Verkaufsgesellschaft GmbH, with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main and a subsidiary in Hungary, is specialized in steel processing and stainless steel trade for the chemical industry. Together with its subsidiary Edelstahlservice Mocs NemesacfeldolgozKft,Hungary, the company employs 49 persons and generated sales of EUR 16.7 million in 2006.

Max Carl Stahlhandel registered in Coburg achieved sales of EUR15.0 million in 2006 with 19 employees. The distribution company, a former division of Max Carl GmbH & Co KG, offers a full range of steel and metal products.

Zweygart Stahlhandel, registered in Ehningen, southwest of Stuttgart, is also a distributor of steel and metals and has a diversified customer topology in Baden-Wrttemberg. The company, a former division of Zweygart Fachhandelsgruppe GmbH & Co. KG, employs 22 persons and generated sales of EUR 11.3 million in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

Dr. Thomas Ludwig CEO of Klkner & Co AG said that These companies perfectly strengthen our market position in Southern Germany and through the location in Hungary we have also expanded our business activity in Eastern Europe. We have thus already purchased 6 companies in the first five months of the year and have made significant progress in achieving our target of taking over 10 to 12 distributors in the 2007 fiscal year.

Norilsk finds break up fee high in Xstratas revised offer for LionOre

RIA Novosti reported that Russian Norilsk Nickel was unpleasantly surprised by an announcement made by Swiss based Xstrata PLC that it will increase its offer for the shares of a Canada's LionOre Mining International Ltd.

Mr Denis Morozov General Director of Norilsk Nickel said that We are surprised and disappointed that the announcement includes an unreasonably high break fee payable to Xstrata of approximately 4.9% of the bid's value, which is over CAD 300 million (about USD 272 million) and well above the previous 2.8% break fee. The fee does not encourage a level playing field for all bidders "

He said that Norilsk Nickel was examining the information released by Xstrata's announced offer and would evaluate its alternatives together with financial and legal advisors.

Canada's LionOre Mining International Ltd said that a CAD 5.3 billion (USD 4.8 billion) offer by Norilsk Nickel was superior to a rival bid by the Swiss mining group, but in a surprising move Tuesday the Swiss mining company increased its original offer by about 35% to USD 5.6 billion.

LionOre is a global nickel and gold producer with operations in Australia, Botswana and South Africa. In 2006, LionOre produced 34,094 tonnes of payable nickel.

Mittal Steel expects to sell Sparrows Point in 6 to 8 weeks

Mittal Steel, whose merger is pending with Arcelor SA, has indicated that it will miss next week's US Justice Department deadline for selling its Sparrows Point mill near Baltimore.

Mr Lakshmi N Mittal CEO during a quarterly earnings conference call said that he expects the Dutch company to complete the federally ordered divestment of Sparrows Point in six to eight weeks. Mr LN Mittal said that "There is good progress and we are processing the proposals which we have received and we hope that in the next six to eight weeks time or before that we will announce the result." Mr Mittal said it had narrowed the list of bidders from a dozen to a smaller undisclosed number.

That suggests the company will seek an available 60 days extension from the US Justice Department, postponing from May 21 to July 20 the deadline to sell the plant to settle antitrust issues.

US government had ordered Mittal on February 20th 2007 to sell Sparrows Point to settle antitrust issues raised by the company's pending merger with Arcelor SA. The Justice Department ordered the sale to preserve competition in production of tin plated steel which is used to make cans for food aerosol sprays and paint.

The Sparrows Point plant, located on the Chesapeake Bay, is among Mittal Steel's largest U.S. production plants, capable of producing 3.9 million tons of raw steel and 500,000 tons of tin products annually. Sparrows Point is the former Bethlehem Steel plant and has stood on its current site since 1887.

UN approves JFE Steels CDM project in the Philippines

The Clean Development Mechanism project that JFE Steel Corporation has been pursuing with Philippine Sinter Corporation received formal approval from the United Nations CDM Council on May 7TH 2007. The project applied for UN approval in March this year after receiving approvals from both the Japanese and Philippine governments.

PSC, a subsidiary of JFE Steel based on the island of Mindanao, produces sintered iron ore for use in blast furnaces. Under the project, the sintering process will recover waste heat and make effective use of it in generating electricity, reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels that would be consumed in conventional thermoelectric power plants. Plans anticipate startup of the waste heat recovery and power generation facility in April 2008. An estimated 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide can be saved each year.

Philippine Sinter Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of JFE Steel with production capacity of sintered ore amounts to 5.5 million tonne per year.

Clean Development Mechanism, introduced in the Kyoto Protocol as a supplementary method making use of market mechanisms. When enterprises in developed countries furnish funding and technology to enterprises in developing countries, any consequent reductions in carbon dioxide can be counted towards reductions in the developed countries.

Anglo to increase iron ore focus

Anglo American plc expects to have largely completed by year end an overhaul to focus on the metals demanded by Chinas expanding economy and plans to more than triple its share of the global iron ore trade to 11% by 2012 from 3%.

Ms Cynthia Carroll CEO of Anglo American d in an interview with Bloomberg in Rio de Janeiro said that the plan aims to concentrate output on iron ore, copper, nickel, platinum, diamonds, coal and zinc. She said that Anglo is spending USD 7 billion on existing mines and is studying as much as USD15 billion of new projects. She said "We are well on the way to delivering the restructuring by the end of the year.

Ms Carrol is pressing on with a strategy started by her predecessor, Mr Tony Trahar, who sold USD 10 billion of non core assets, bought back stock and narrowed the companys focus to target metals needed by China.

Dunaferr to increase CR capacity by 0.5 million tonnes

Industrial Union of Donbasss Hungarian unit Dunaferr has ordered Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services Metals Technologies to supply a new reversing cold mill and a pickling line including acid regeneration plant for increasing the capacities as well as by attaining an improved and more homogeneous quality of their finished products. The new plant is scheduled to start production in mid of 2008.

Siemens scope of services for the pickling line as well as for the reversing cold mill comprises engineering, supply of mechanical equipment and automation systems, supervision of erection and commissioning.

The scope of supplies for the new continuous pickling line comprises of coil charging equipment with walking beams & coil preparation, the entry section with main & auxiliary pay off reel, a heavy laser welder, pickling section with three pickling tanks and the exit section with a turret type side trimmer, tension reel & automatic coil strapping. Also included are the hydraulic and regeneration system. The plant will be fully automated and a high degree of pickling efficiency will be assured by the application of turbulent pickling acid injection. The new continuous pickling line will have an annual capacity of 1,600,000 tons and delivers coil on exit with up to 50 tons weight.

The scope of supplies for the new 4 high single stand reversing cold mill comprises of mechanical, electrical and automation equipment as well as drive systems for the coil preparation, pay off reel, mill entry, mill stand, mill exit, tension reels as well as coil discharging. Furthermore ancillary equipment, hydraulics and lubrication systems will be supplied. The mill stand is equipped with automatic gauge control, work roll bending, multi zone cooling and emulsion system. To produce very thin cold strip gauges the mill is in addition equipped with a direct application system. The new reversing cold mill will have an annual capacity of 536,000 tonnes. This high capacity can only be reached by processing coils up to 50 tons weight.

Dunaferr produces cold rolled wide and narrow strip and sheet as well as hot rolled pickled and hot rolled, pickled and tempered wide and narrow strip and sheet.

Alabama Port approves terminal for ThyssenKrupps plant

Alabama State Port Authority has approved construction of a new marine terminal that will handle steel slabs for ThyssenKrupps steel mill to be built about 25 miles north of Mobile at an investment of about USD 115 million. The terminal will be operated and maintained by the port authority.

Mr James Lyons the board of directors of the Alabama Port said that his staff had been working with ThyssenKrupp officials to design the terminal which will use state of the art magnetic lifting gear to move steel slabs from ships to barges that will take them to the plant.

Construction of the terminal at Pinto Island on Mobile Bay is part of the incentives package offered before ThyssenKrupp AG picked the Alabama site last week for its USD 3.7 billion steel mill.

China speeding up elimination of obsolete coke capacity

Shanghai Securities News reported that China, which is working out a mechanism for elimination of backward coke capacities since 2004 and has put forth a stream of regulatory policies in succession in view of potential coke overcapacity and price drop, will force out 4.3 million tonne capacity from small sized batteries by the end of 2007. The concerned departments have begin speeding up elimination of outmode capacities as the deadline is coming closer.

The report cites an official as saying that it has a lot to do with lack of compensation system and a passage to retreat why the outmoded capacity often revives. It could be severe injury to the local finance and employment if the mills are closed, thus it's advisable to set up specialized fund for coking industry's restructuring both in central and local governmental layers.

Mr Huang Jingan director of China coking industry yet revealed on the coke market symposium that the steel sector still ran well in Apr with booming export, and the coke price will sustain uptrend. Mr Huang said in 2007 China may produce 470 million tonne of steel if the pace remains in line with March statistics or close to 500 million tonnes if based on April's while in Q1 the nation's coke output gained 23.7% higher than last year's average growth of 17.14%.

The target by end of 2009 is washing out 80 million tonne outdated capacity.

Mincorp buys 5.5% stake in Indonesia's ATPK Resources

UKs Mincorp PLC announced that it has acquired a 5.5% interest in Jakarta listed mining firm PT ATPK Resources Tbk for GBP 1.1 million in cash.

Mincorp said that it sees substantial value in ATPK, once the company develops the five Indonesian coal mines it acquired last October, which contain substantial reserves of steaming coal.

ATPK reported a loss of GBP 2.0 million in 2006 on net assets of GBP 3.1 million.

Grange to start construction of pellet unit in Malaysia in 2008

Reuters reported that Australian miner Grange Resources Ltd plans to start construction on South East Asia's first iron ore pellet manufacturing unit in Malaysia in 2008.

Mr Neil Marston GM of Grange in an interview told Reuters that the plant at Kemaman in north eastern Terengganu state would start production in 2010, with an initial capacity of 3.5 million tonnes that would later be ramped up to 6.8 million tonnes.

Mr Marston said that "We are not starting construction earlier because in Australia we are awaiting government approval to develop the mine which is going to supply concentrates to the plant in Malaysia. As soon as we have got that, we will start work on the project. All pellets for Malaysian consumption are currently imported directly from Brazil or through suppliers who source their concentrates from Brazil. "

Mr Marston said that Grange plans to export iron ore pellets to Indonesia, India and the Middle East after meeting the demand of the Malaysian steel industry which currently uses imported pellets. He said that All pellets for Malaysian consumption are currently imported directly from Brazil or through suppliers who source their concentrates from Brazil. We are a much closer source of pellet feedstock."

Umformtechnik transferred to ThyssenKrupp Steel

ThyssenKrupp Umformtechnik group, part of the former ThyssenKrupp Automotive AG until the end of last fiscal year 2005-06, has been transferred to the ThyssenKrupp Steel segment effective from October 1st 2006. The Steel segment will be further strengthened by the ability to meet growing customer demand for value adding services.

The Umformtechnik group holds leading market positions as a manufacturer of body and chassis components for the auto industry, with each of the 2 operating groups accounting for roughly half of sales. Umformtechnik group has 8,200 employees at 23 locations worldwide and generates sales of around EUR 1.4 billion. The group includes the German Umformtechnik, the UK companies Tallent and Body Stampings and the French company Sofedit.

Dr Ulrich Jaroni executive board member of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG said that "There is a trend among leading steel producers towards intensifying their downstream operations. The tie up will secure the long-term competitiveness of Umformtechnik and offer major potential for expanding its unique selling points. Extending the value chain will also create synergies as a result of our complementary materials capabilities."

Russian regulator puts off decision on sale of EvrazMetall network

Interfax reported that the Federal Anti Monopoly Service has extended by 2 months its consideration of an application from Cyprus based Kemzoun Limited to buy the EvrazMetall metals distribution network. The regulator has also decided to extend the review of the application because it needs additional consideration and additional information is requirement for an objective and full consideration of these transactions. The combined value of the assets of the buyer and the group of companies being acquired exceeds RUB 3 billion.

The regulator said that it is considering an application from investment firm Kemzoun to acquire 100% of EvrazMetall Chernozemye in Voronezh, EvrazMetall Ural in Yekaterinburg, EvrazMetall Center in Moscow, EvrazMetall Siberia in Novokuznetsk EvrazMetall Northwest in St Petersburg and EvrazMetall-Volga in Nizhny Novgorod.

Mr Alexander Frolov president of Evraz Group had earlier said that the EvrazMetall sales network does not belong to the group, but is owned by the group's shareholders. He said negotiations on the sale of EvrazMetall had been completed and the parties were waiting for a ruling from the competition authorities. Mr Frolov said that the sale of EvrazMetall would not hurt the group's sales, as EvrazMetall's annual sales total only about 500,000 tonnes of metal. He did not specify the price of the deal or name the buyer but media reports had earlier said that EvrazMetall might be bought by Switzerland's Carbofer General Trading.

Renova to invest USD 1 billion in South Africa's manganese deposits

RIA Novosti reported that Russian asset Management Company Renova announced that it is intends to invest USD 1 billion in a manganese deposit in South Africa.

Mr Viktor Vekselberg head of Renova said that the company has completed a feasibility study for the deposit's construction. But he declined to name the manganese field. Mr Vekselberg said that the deposit's construction will begin this year, with initial investment of USD 150 to USD 200 million.

Mr Viktor Vekselberg added that Renova will launch a feasibility study for the construction of a manganese processing facility in 2007.

Renova is a stakeholder and strategic investor of leading Russian companies in the metals, oil, engineering, mining and other sectors.

Rio Tinto to reduce coal production at Tarong Mine

Rio Tinto announced that it will reduce production of energy coal at its Tarong mine in Australia by half and cut 160 jobs after a customer reduced orders. The cuts follow measures taken at the Tarong and Tarong North power stations to manage water resources during a period of drought.

Ms Alison Smith a spokeswoman said that production will drop to 300,000 tonnes per month from 605,000 tonnes and 160 contractor and employee jobs will be reduced at the mine over the next two months

Mr Cam Halfpenny GM of the Tarong Mine in a statement that "Tarong Energy has announced an electricity generation reduction of 70% from full load this year in order to conserve energy. Unfortunately we need to significantly reduce coal production this year and probably into next year of beyond, depending on the water situation."

Australia is in the grip of its worst drought in a century, lowering water levels at hydropower dams in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and reducing water available for cooling at generators in Queensland.

Industrias CH & Grupo Simecs investments in Republic Engineering

It is reported that Industrias CH SA de CV and Grupo Simec invested more than USD 100 million in capital investments at its facilities since taking over Republic Engineered Products at Fairlawn in Ohio since July 2005. In 2006, Republic started up a new 5 strand bloom caster and new electric melt shop, including a 200 tonne EAF and 200 tonne ladle furnace.

Now the work is being done on a bloom caster and the medium and large inspect facilities in Canton. Other continuing projects are on two bar mills at the Lorain plant and a bar mill at the Lackawanna plant. Cost of the ongoing projects is USD 10.5 million. They are aimed at streamlining process routes, improving in line inspection and detection systems and eliminating the need for certain additional processing.

Mr Jaime Vigil president and CEO of Republic Engineered Products Inc said the latest investments are part of Republic's strategy to remain a leader in the SBQ market by supplying defect free products and strengthen long term relationships with its customers. Mr Vigil said "Our technology relationship with Kobe Steel coupled with our long standing customer relationships provides us with what we need to make the right investments to maintain and grow our business across all market segments."

Republic's recent technology agreement with Kobe Steel subsidiary Kobe Technologies Proprietary Inc calls for Kobe to send engineers to Republic plants in Canton and Lorain, to help improve product quality there. Republic also has a license to produce and market Kobe's UHS1900 suspension springs.

Republic Engineered Products Inc is headquartered at Fairlawn in Ohio. It operates steelmaking centers in Canton and Lorain in Ohio and value added rolling and finishing facilities in Canton, Lorain & Massillon in Ohio, Lackawanna in New York and Gary & Hamilton in Ontario. The company employs approximately 2,500 people.

RUSAL to hold IPO in November 2007

Interfax quoted Mr Vekselberg non executive chairman and a significant minority shareholder in United Company RUSAL, as telling reporters at a conference that the company could take a decision on an IPO in August or September this year.

However, Ms Vera Kurochkina a spokeswoman told Interfax that "In accordance with our agreement, the IPO is expected to take place within three years."

UC RUSAL was formed in March by a merger of Russian aluminium producers RUSAL and SUAL, of which Mr Vekselberg is co owner, and assets of commodities trader Glencore. Mr Vekselberg told Reuters in November the merged company could list some time in 2007.

Blaze Recycling orders a Harris shredder for Alabama unit

Recycling Today reported that Norcross Georgia based Blaze Recycling & Metals has decided to purchase of a shredder for its facility at Phenix City in Alabama.

Mr Kevin Blase VP of operations for Blaze Recycling & Metals said We evaluated several shredder designs and manufacturers before deciding on Harris when we purchased our first shredder.

According to a Harris news release the Harris HS 98115 shredder system ordered by Blaze includes an infeed conveyor an HS 98115 Shredder mill with feed system a 6,000 hp wound motor drive and complete downstream ferrous separation system including a zero emissions air system. Harris said an online offline nonferrous material separation system is also part of the plant set up.

Mr Javier Herrera VP of the Harris Shredder division of Harris Waste Management Group Inc stated that the HS 98115 is designed to minimize and simplify maintenance while increasing the machine productive life. He said Blaze Recycling has made a significant commitment to the scrap industry in the Southeastern United States and Harris is proud to be an integral part of its growth.

China Precision Steels Q3 revenue up by 36% YoY

China Precision Steel has announced results for the 3rd quarter ending March 31st 2007. Third quarter highlights are
1. Its revenue increased by 36% YoY to CNY 11.6 million and newly launched export program accounted for 14.4% of total revenue began shipments to Indonesia and the Philippines.
2. Gross profit was recorded at CNY 3.4 million up by 8.4% YoY and new cold rolled mill currently operating at 30% capacity has raised CNY 20.3 million in additional capital to fund capacity expansion program
3. Net income was recorded at CNY 1.4 million down by 55.4% YoY as against CNY 3.1 million in the comparable period in 2006

Revenue growth in the quarter was driven by increased volume of precision steel products to 16,110 tonnes up by 53% YoY from 10,534 tonnes in the third quarter of 2006. High carbon and low carbon products accounted for 53% and 47% respectively as compared to 58% and 42% respectively in the same period a year ago. Revenue from exports was USD 1.7 million or 14.4% of total revenues. China Precision Steel began to export low carbon steel products in the second quarter of 2007. During the third quarter of 2007, the company expanded its exports to include the Philippine and Indonesian markets.

Dr Wo Hing Li chairman and CEO of China Precision Steel said that ''We continue to experience strong demand for our cold rolled precision steel from our current customers and new customers both domestically and internationally resulting in our strong revenue growth. Our second cold rolled mill with 150,000 tonnes of capacity is operating at 30% capacity, and we anticipate it will reach 50% by the end of calendar 2007. The market environment remains favorable for our products as we continue to see demand outpacing domestic supply.''

China Precision Steel is a niche precision steel processing company principally engaged in producing and selling high precision cold rolled steel products and provides value added services such as heat treatment and cutting medium and high carbon hot rolled steel strips. China Precision Steel produces high precision ultra thin, high strength 7.5mm to 0.05mm cold rolled steel products primarily for automotive components, food packaging materials, saw blades and textile needle manufacturing companies.

Waratah Coal starts drilling at Nymboida coking coal prospect

Waratah Coal Inc recently announced that a drilling program has begun at its 100% owned Nymboida Project in NSW Australia that will test the potential continuity of the Farquhar's Creek coal seam beyond the localized area of historic mining activity after historic laboratory testing of the Farquhar's Creek seam highlighted its excellent metallurgical properties.

The initial drilling program includes 6 to 8 open holes up to two cores of the Farquhar's Creek seam and extensive surface mapping. The aim is to provide confidence that coal seam distribution required to produce at least a moderate sized resource of coking quality coal does indeed exist. A positive result will lead to a more extensive program focused on proving a resource for the purposes of mining.

The Nymboida Coal Project (EL 6467) located in New South Wales has potential to produce both thermal and coking coal products based on information from historical mining data and existing coal exploration data for the license and surrounding area. The prospect generally has the potential to produce good quality coals at shallow overburden depths. Notably there has been no modern exploration activity completed within the basin examining the potential for the extraction of material via modern bulk mineable underground methods.

The Nymboida underground colliery operated commercially from 1948 until its closure in 1979. The historic underground mining activity was very small scale in nature only extracting 500 tonnes to 700 tonnes per week to supply the local Koolkhan Power Station.

Iran to help Kazakhstan to build a steel plant

Iranian News Agency recently reported that Iran and Kazakhstan have agreed to an Iranian company constructing a modern steel production company in Kazakhstan.

Mr Yerik Utembayev Kazakh ambassador to Iran during a recent visit to Iran's Mobarakeh Steel Manufacturing Complex in Esfahan told reporter that "Iran's state of the art technology in the steel manufacturing sector has spurred our country into seeking Tehran's aid in setting up a similar company in Kazakhstan."

Mr Utembayev described the visit as an attempt to pave the ground for both countries experts to carry out the preliminary studies on the planned project.

Claymont Steel posts loss in Q1 of 2007

Claymont Steel Holdings Inc announced that it swung to a loss in Q1 of 2007 due to one time charges offset an increase in shipments.

Claymont Steel said that it posted a quarterly loss of USD 8.9 million as compared with a profit of USD 11.4 million as compared to same period last year. Results from the most recent quarter included a charge of USD 14.6 million related to debt refinancing. Its revenue is up by 4% to USD 84.8 million from USD 81.3 million.

Claymont Steel attributed its gains in the quarter to a slight increase in shipments which helped offset lower average selling prices and production slowdowns due to severe winter weather.

SKW Stahl Metallurgies Q1 EBIT up by 52.5% YoY

SKW Stahl Metallurgie Holding AG has recorded EUR 6.1 million of EBIT in the first quarter of 2007 up by 52.5% YoY as compared to EUR 4 million in the same period previous year while its consolidated revenue was climbed up by 2% YoY in the period under review to EUR 50 million.

Ms Ines Kolmsee chairwoman of SKW Metallurgie said that SKW Metallurgie succeeded in seeing financial year 2007 off to a good start. The acquisition of Quab and the focus on high margin activities are paying off. That is why with revenue of between EUR 210 and EUR 230 million and EBITDA of between EUR 18.5 and EUR 19.5 million we have set targets for 2007 that are well above the previous year.

SKW Metallurgie is the world market leader for numerous chemical additives for raw iron desulphurization and for secondary metallurgy. Its products enable steel makers to efficiently manufacture high quality steel products. SKW Metallurgie Group has more than 50 years of metallurgical know how and is today active in more than 35 countries. Approximately 47% of its revenue is generated in Europe and 43% in the NAFTA region.

Zeehan Zinc to start mining at Western Tasmania in June

AFX reported Zeehan Zinc Ltd is scheduled to start mining at its operations in Western Tasmania during June 2007 with production of pre concentrate expected to follow in July.

Zeehan said that these dates are a result of expectations that the Gravity plant at the location will be fully operational by the end of June.

Zeehan has completed the first phase of its 2007 exploration drilling program.

UES sells its coal mines in Kazakhstan

Interfax reported that Russian Unified Energy System has sold its coal mines in Kazakhstan to TOO Bogatyr Access Komir a subsidiary controlled by Leonard Blavatnik's Access Industries. The value of deal was not included in the report and it only stated that ENPI Consult assessed the property at RUB 220 million.

UES owned the Severny coal mine with a capacity to produce 15 million tonnes of coal a year and the No 9 Bogatyr mine. Both mines are in the Ekibastuz coal basin.