HALO RESOURCES LTD. - Lynda Bloom, President and CEO is pleased to announce that Halo Resources Ltd. has commenced drilling at the Jungle Lake copper-zinc deposit on its 200 square km Sherridon Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) Property in the Sherridon - Flin Flon area of Manitoba. Drilling of the known deposits and mineral occurrences on [...]

Copper prices in New York rose to the highest in almost four months on speculation demand will climb in China, the world’s biggest user of the metal.
Prices have more than tripled in the past four years as China built more homes, cars and appliances. Demand for copper in the country may increase 8 percent to [...]

Charlie Sartain, chief executive for copper at Xstrata, one of the world’s largest mining companies, said the growth in Chinese demand for all commodities was “just phenomenal,” and prices may rise for the next few years as a result.
Demand for copper in China may increase 8 percent to 10 percent this year compared with last [...]

Union Pacific said on Tuesday it halted an embargo on new business on a section of track serving the coal-rich Powder River Basin in Wyoming.
The embargo officially ended March 27.
The embargo went into effect on a section of track Union Pacific operates jointly with Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad July 18, 2005, after heavy rain [...]

Russian regulators said Monday they had suspended operation at more than 30 mines as part of a check of safety standards that followed last month’s Siberian coal mine disaster that killed more than 100 people.
Industrial safety watchdog Rostekhnadzor said 33 coal mines had been suspended nationwide, including 29 in the coal-rich region in eastern Siberia [...]

The Supreme Court dealt a setback to the utility industry Monday, supporting a federal clean air initiative aimed at forcing power companies to install pollution control equipment on aging coal-fired power plants.
In a unanimous decision, the justices ruled against Duke Energy Corp. in a lawsuit brought by the Clinton administration, part of an enforcement effort [...]

Export prices for power-station coal at Newcastle, Australia, the world’s largest coal-export harbor, fell 1.8 percent last week after major producers and buyers agreed contracts for 2007 supplies.
The weekly index of prices for thermal coal for immediate delivery from the port in New South Wales state slid 98 cents to $52.63 a metric ton in [...]

Natural Resource Partners LP has acquired about 35 million tons of coal reserves in Northern West Virginia from Western Pocahontas Properties LP for 250,000 NRP common units and about $10.2 million in cash.
WPP, with operations in Huntington, W.Va., is a partnership controlled by Corbin Robertson Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of NRP. The conflicts [...]

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has signed a so- called record of decision that makes way for a $569 million coal-fired power plant to be built near Orlando, Fla., the Department of Energy said Tuesday.
The plant, which will use a unique coal gasification technology to make it cleaner and more efficient than traditional coal plants, [...]

Dynegy Corp. chief Bruce Williamson met with the Sierra Club to discuss eight proposed coal plants.
Following Dynegy’s merger with LS Power last week, Dynegy shifted into a plant developer role, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday. Williamson met with representatives from the environmental group in Washington to talk about the eight proposed plants.
Williamson said though the [...]