Because of high production costs and weak coal prices, International Coal Group (ICO) has idled the Sago Mine where 12 men died in a methane gas explosion last year.
Spokesman Ira Gamm described Monday’s shutdown as a purely business decision. “No other factors are involved,” Gamm said Wednesday. “This was a business decision, part of our [...]

Duke Energy estimated it would cost $1.53 billion to build a single coal-fired power unit at its Cliffside power plant in western North Carolina, the state Public Utilities Commission disclosed Wednesday.
Duke Energy Corp. provided the estimate when seeking permission from the commission to build a pair of generators, estimated at $3 billion, at its Cliffside [...]

The owner of an illegal coal mine in northern China has been arrested for allegedly trying to cover up an accident that left at least 19 workers dead, state press reported Thursday.
Rescuers had found 19 bodies following a gas blast at the colliery in Shanxi province, China’s coal mining heartland, Xinhua news agency said, [...]

A devastating gas explosion tore through a Siberian coal mine Monday, killing at least 78 miners, Russian officials said, as emergency workers raced to rescue dozens still trapped underground.
“The latest figures we have is 78 killed,” the Kemerovo regional administration’s spokesman Sergei Cheremnov said as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
Earlier, emergency ministry officials said [...]

Global Alumina Corporation announced that its board of directors will meet within this week to approve the establishment of a joint venture among an affiliate of BHP Billiton, Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (”DUBAL”), Mubadala Development Company PJSC (”Mubadala”) and the Company to develop and operate the Company’s alumina refinery project in the Republic of Guinea. [...]

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.’s $25.9 billion cash-and-stock acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp. was approved today, a deal that would create the world’s largest publicly traded copper company.
In separate votes by shareholders of New Orleans-based Freeport and Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge, the buyout was approved by about 98 percent of the votes cast, the companies said [...]

The first coal-fired ethanol plant in Minnesota is expected to soon be in operation in Heron Lake, Minn.
High natural gas prices are leading new ethanol plant owners to embrace coal power, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.
“The country is investing in ethanol not only as a way to reduce our reliance on oil, but as [...]

India says it has plans to auction 38 coal blocks with a reserve of 6086.67 million tons to the power, steel, iron and cement sectors in 2007.
“The coal reserves of 38 blocks to be allocated for captive mining through the screening committee route is estimated to be 6086.67 million tons,” India’s Junior Coal Minister Dasari [...]

Top coal-burning countries like the United States should start burying carbon dioxide emissions from power plants as a wider crackdown on greenhouse gases looks increasingly likely, according to a study.
The U.S. government should help fund up to five demonstration projects that entomb emissions of the main gas scientists link to global warming, said the study, [...]

Oxbow Carbon & Minerals Holdings, Inc. (Oxbow) announced that it has informed the Board of Trustees of Great Lakes Carbon Income Fund (the Fund) (TSX:GLC.UN - News) that it has modified its offer to purchase all assets of the Fund to increase the effective cash price per unit of the Fund from C$13.00 to C$13.50. [...]