Lobbyists have reported spending more than $789,000 during the ongoing debate over two proposed coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas, most of it on efforts to sway public opinion.
Opponents of the plants initially reported putting far more money into their public relations campaign. But since the year began, supporters have reported six times as much [...]

Mongolia’s Cabinet has decided to review a draft agreement on ownership of Tavan Tolgoi, a potentially huge coking coal project in the Gobi Desert that has attracted interest from some of the world’s biggest mining companies.
The decision means the Mongolian government will set up a working group to renegotiate ownership and investment rights for the [...]

Peabody Energy Corp. has pledged nearly one million tons of coal a year and up to $10 million in development funds to an Illinois plant planners say would become the nation’s first to commercially turn coal into liquid fuels for tomorrow’s big-rig trucks, buses, barges or jets.
St. Louis-based Peabody, as part of the deal announced [...]

BP Plc and Rio Tinto Plc formed a joint venture, Hydrogen Energy, to develop technology for producing power from coal, oil and natural gas without emitting the gases blamed for global warming.
Rio will pay $32 million to BP to form the equally owned venture, which includes two planned BP hydrogen-fuel projects in Scotland and California [...]

Australia’s New South Wales state government has approved plans for a new coal export terminal at the port of Newcastle, which has suffered from severe congestion that has hurt the country’s coal exports.
The A$922 million ($768 million) terminal, planned to start operations in 2009, will add nearly two-thirds to the port’s capacity.
It will be built [...]

Australian coal miner Gloucester Coal Ltd. on Tuesday recommended shareholders accept a A$391 million ($320 million) offer from a subsidiary of Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata Plc .
Gloucester Coal said the Xstrata Coal offer of A$4.75 a share was at a 33 percent premium to the one-month volume weighted average price of Gloucester Coal shares, and 27 [...]

Xstrata Plc, the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal, agreed to buy Gloucester Coal Ltd. for A$391 million ($319 million) to extend the life of mining operations in Australia’s New South Wales state.
The cash offer of A$4.75 a share, which is 25 percent higher than Gloucester’s latest close, is unanimously recommended by Gloucester’s board, the [...]

Arch Coal Inc. on Friday reported a profit in the fourth quarter compared with a year-ago loss, as cost-cutting and expanded operating margins more than offset weak demand for coal.
The nation’s second-largest coal producer posted a profit of $79.5 million, or 55 cents per share, in the period ending Dec. 31, compared to a loss [...]

Although coal companies have faced strong headwinds in recent months, an analyst at Citigroup said ingredients for a recovery loom, making it a good time to buy one of the industry’s best names.
In a client note Friday, John Hill initiated coverage on Peabody Energy Corp. at “Buy” with a target price of $48, saying he [...]

Shares of Arch Coal Inc. continued falling Thursday after a Morgan Stanley analyst took the coal producer off a list of preferred stocks, saying warm weather spells trouble for coal prices.
Morgan Stanley analyst Henry H. McVey struck Arch Coal from the Focus List.
“We are increasingly concerned that high inventories and warm weather will prove to [...]