OPINION: Coal is dead, or at least was, according to the ESG crowd. Long live coal – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – March 16, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

For the resources industry, the trick to meeting ESG standards was pretty simple: sell your dirty fuels, especially coal. If you did, investors who cared about the health of the planet would love you, and your company’s valuation would go up.

The formula seemed solid a few years ago, and a big number of mining giants sold or spun off their coal assets. Canada’s Teck Resources was the latest to pursue the black-to-green transition with the sale, announced last year but not yet approved by Ottawa, of its metallurgical coal business to Switzerland’s Glencore.

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Canada, U.S. governments reach deal to address cross-border coal pollution – by Wendy Stueck (Globe and Mail – March 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Canadian and U.S. governments have agreed to put the issue of cross-border pollution from B.C. coal mines before the International Joint Commission, a body set up more than a century ago to resolve conflicts over shared waters.

The request, made through what is known as a joint reference under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, follows years of campaigning by Indigenous peoples and was developed with the Ktunaxa Nation, an Indigenous people whose traditional territory takes in parts of British Columbia, Montana and Idaho.

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Alberta regulator will hear Australian company’s revived plan for a controversial coal mine – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Alberta’s energy regulator will consider controversial applications to explore a new coal mine in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, ruling the project is excluded from a government-mandated ban on exploration approvals. The decision announced on Friday applies to a set of permit applications for exploratory activities by Northback Holdings Corp. at Grassy Mountain, on the site of an old mine that closed about five decades ago.

Northback, formerly Benga Mining Ltd., is a subsidiary of Australian mining giant Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. Benga’s application for an open-pit mine on the land was rejected by a joint federal-provincial panel in June, 2021, because of environmental concerns.

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Metallurgical coal is the commodity world’s quiet performer – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – February 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 22 (Reuters) – When looking at the commodities used to make steel, iron ore gathers the bulk of headlines given its strong link to the perceived health of China’s economy. But metallurgical coal is also a key input, and this fuel has quietly been a top performer in the energy commodity space in recent months.

Australia dominates the seaborne market for metallurgical coal, accounting for more than half of global volumes, and about three times the shipments of the next biggest exporter, the United States. The price of Australian metallurgical coal, also known as coking coal, on the Singapore Exchange ended at $315 a metric ton on Wednesday.

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Filmmakers aims to honor Appalachian culture in ‘King Coal’ – by Miles Layton (Vinton Jackson Courier – February 13, 2024)

 

https://www.vintonjacksoncourier.com/

“King Coal” is one of the best movies I’ve seen depicting the people, places and culture of Appalachia. The film was shown as part of From the Hills and Hollers: Appalachian Stories Film Series on Feb. 8 at the Athena Cinema.

Initially, without knowing anything about “King Coal,” I was worried it was going to be a documentary that negatively portrays Appalachian people (poverty porn) before a sermon about coal’s impact on climate change and possibly includes a cameo from Al Gore. None of that could be further from the truth. It was an accurate presentation about the culture surrounding coal.

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NDP to move bill calling for ban of coal exports as Canadian output booms – by Mia Rabson (Canadian Press/CTV News – February 14, 2024)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

OTTAWA – Canadian exports of the kind of coal used to make electricity hit an eight-year high in 2022, even as the Liberals have promised to work on banning exports completely by the end of the decade. The Liberals made the promise during the 2021 election and it was listed in Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s mandate letter that December.

In the year that followed, Canada exported more than eight million tonnes of domestically produced thermal coal, a 60 per cent increase over 2021 and more than eight times what was exported in 2018. That year, thermal coal exports hit a low of one million tonnes, before rapidly rising, doubling to two million tonnes in 2019, almost five million tonnes in 2020 and 5.5 million tonnes in 2021.

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Federal Court allows judicial review of southern Alberta coal mine denied by panel – by Bob Weber (Canadian Press/CBC Calgary – February 14, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

Company lost earlier attempt to seek review from Alberta Court of Appeal

A Federal Court ruling Tuesday has thrown out a decision from federal Environmental Minister Steven Guilbeault denying a permit for an open-pit coal mine in the Alberta Rockies. The ruling, which comes in response to two Alberta First Nations, will force Guilbeault to revisit the issue after consulting with the bands on the economic benefits of the proposed mine.

The company hoping to develop the mine, Benga Mining, also requested the decision be reviewed. It was denied. The court ruled that the Piikani and Stoney First Nations never received a consultation opportunity they had been promised by the federal-provincial panel that reviewed Benga’s application.

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China’s Tougher Coal Mining Rules Could Threaten Supply Again (Bloomberg News – February 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Stricter regulation of Chinese coal mines to reduce fatalities could raise the risk of renewed supply disruptions and higher prices in the world’s biggest market for the fuel.

A string of disasters over the last 12 months, including 53 deaths in a landslide at an open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, has refocused the authorities on accident prevention. More than 2,000 investigations into mine safety were conducted last year. From May 1, the penalties for breaches will include forced closures and fines of up to 20 million yuan ($2.8 million).

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One Country’s Dream of EV-Driven Prosperity Helps Fuel a Coal Binge Instead – by Jon Emont (Wall Street Journal – February 4, 2024)

https://www.wsj.com/

Indonesia pitches its plan to leverage natural resources as a model for other developing nations

A few years ago, Indonesia set out to turn its treasure trove of nickel into an electric-car manufacturing boom.It imposed a sweeping ban on the export of raw nickel.

That meant that companies wanting to tap the world’s largest source of the mineral—used in the most powerful type of EV batteries—would have to build smelters in Indonesia. Officials bet that factories to make EV batteries and entire electric cars would also follow, spawning end-to-end supply chains close to the mineral bounty.

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US thermal coal exports hit 5-year highs and top $5 billion in 2023 – by Gavin Maguire (Reuters – February 1, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LITTLETON, Colorado, Feb 1 (Reuters) – United States exporters of thermal coal earned more than $5 billion in 2023 as they shipped out more than 32.5 million metric tons of the high-polluting power fuel, data from ship-tracking firm Kpler shows.

The thermal coal export earnings were the second-highest since 2017, following 2022’s $5.7 billion. The total volumes were the highest since 2018 and came as U.S. power producers cut the amount of coal used in electricity generation to the lowest this century, data from energy think tank Ember shows.

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How Miners Are Still Paying the Costs of Pursuing an ‘American Dream’ – by Taylor Sisk (Good Men Project – January 19, 2024)

https://goodmenproject.com/

They went into the mines to secure a better life for their loved ones. Unfortunately, they emerged with ravaged lungs and damaged psyches.

“I’ve loaded more coal in my sleep than I have in the mines,” says Terry Lilly. The words don’t come easy. Though retired, Lilly remains ever a coal miner. It’s said coal miners are a stoic sort. Inner revelations aren’t in Lilly’s nature. But it’s also physically difficult for him to share those words.

Black lung has seen to that. Lilly went underground in 1975, at 18. Thirty years in, shortly after returning from hernia surgery, he was buried in a collapse. “I broke a leg, both knees, a hip, my back. And while I was in the hospital, I had blood clots go through my lungs. I lay in ICU for 18 days. Should have died.”

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Poland plans to set end date for coal power – by Kate Abnett (Reuters – January 15, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

BRUSSELS, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Poland plans to set an end date for coal-fuelled power, the country’s Secretary of State for Climate Urszula Zielinska said on Monday, marking a shift from the previous government’s stance on climate change.

Poland’s October 2023 election ended eight years of Law and Justice (PiS) party rule, and led to a new government that Zielinska said was increasing environmental efforts – including a phase out date for coal power.

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2024 is the year the world could reach peak coal use. But it’s a tough habit to quit – by Kyle Bakx CBC News Calgary – January 12, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

Forecasters have been wrong before about discounting coal’s staying power

With the COP28 climate summit now in the rearview mirror, some researchers say the moment is here when coal consumption in power plants around the world will finally peak before beginning a perpetual fall. For more than a century, coal has been used to produce electricity, and to this day remains the workhorse of the global power sector and a critical part of the world’s economy.

Coal is the dirtiest, most-polluting fossil fuel, but it has proven difficult for the world to turn its back on the stalwart source of energy. Energy research firm Wood Mackenzie is forecasting 2024 as the year when the world’s consumption of coal will hit a final inflection point before decreasing.

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Coal miners in North Dakota unearth a mammoth tusk buried for thousands of years – by Jack Dura (Associated Press/MSM.com – January 7, 2024)

https://www.msn.com/

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The first person to spot it was a shovel operator working the overnight shift, eyeing a glint of white as he scooped up a giant mound of dirt and dropped it into a dump truck. Later, after the truck driver dumped the load, a dozer driver was ready to flatten the dirt but stopped for a closer look when he, too, spotted that bit of white.

Only then did the miners realize they had unearthed something special: a 7-foot-long mammoth tusk that had been buried for thousands of years.

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Teck ditches coal, flags lower copper output in Chile – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B) (NYSE: TECK) has kissed coal goodbye after closing the sale of its minority stake in steelmaking coal operations to Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. and South Korean steelmaker Posco.

Nippon Steel now has a 20% interest in Teck’s coal business, known as Elk Valley Resources. In exchange, the Japanese firm gave up its prior 2.5% stake in one of Teck’s coal operations and has paid $1.7 billion in cash.

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