IRJ – November 7 – French oil giant Total has hit oil at its Etisong North-1 oil well in offshore Nigeria, Total E&P Nigeria Ltd. reports, Monday. According to the local subsidiary, one of three reservoirs within Block 102 has returned testing of 8,500 barrels per day of 40° API oil. The Block is a joint venture between Total ...
IRJ – November 7 –Colombia’s Mining and Energy Minister, Mauricio Cardenas, told news provider El Tiempo that illegal mining activity in his country “should be given the same treatment as drug trafficking.” During the interview, Monday, Cardenas likened illegal mining to the drugs trade in respect to its links with criminal armed forces, stating that machinery found at illegally ...
IRJ – November 4 –A rock fall which trapped 50 miners inside China’s Qianqiu coal mine in Sanmenxia, Henan Province, claimed the lives of four workers late on Thursday, according to officials. A total 75 workers were on site at the mine—operated by state-owned Yima Coal Group and in production at around 2.1 million tons annualised—after a 2.9-magnitude earthquake ...
IRJ – November 3 –A report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) depicts the mistreatment of workers at Chinese-owned copper mines in Zambia and calls on new President Michael Sata to stick to his campaign pledges and clean up dubious labour issues for the country’s sector. The report on Zambia—where the domestic copper industry makes up approximately 70 ...
IRJ – November 3 – The Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) may have finally shuttered its way into parliamentary introduction to Australia’s Federal cabinet, but the fight is not over for a group of small and mid-sized iron ore and coal resource houses who called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to have done with the proposed tax, claiming that it ...
IRJ – November 2 –Canadian energy giant Enbridge (TSX:ENB) has upped its stake in the the Cabin Gas Plant Development, British Colombia, by 13.3 per cent to a total ownership portion of 71 per cent. The purchase, at approximately $57.7 million, follows ENB’s decision to obtain 57.6 per cent stake in the plant for $250 million in early October. ...
IRJ – November 2 – Zimbabwe’s Mines Minister says that the nation “will no longer be begging for anything from anybody” following a Kimberley Process (KP) meeting in Congo, where international regulators agreed to the trading of a 4.5 million stones Marange diamonds stockpile worth US$2 billion. “Our current diamond production is estimated by volume, to be in excess ...
IRJ – November 1 –Qatar expects its Barzan Gas Project, proposed in joint venture with ExxonMobil Corporation, to cost an estimated US$10.3 billion, H.E the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada said, Tuesday, as the project’s foundation stone was laid in a ceremony in Doha, overseen by H.H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. ...
IRJ – November 1 – Anticipation mounts as the much debated Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) is due to go before Australia’s parliament for introduction, Wednesday, and vital voter, independent MP Tony Windsor, wants answers related to Coal Seam Gas (CSG) before he pledges support for the proposed legislation. Windsor and co-independent MP Rob Oakshott want clarification on how ...
IRJ – October 31 –The U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) approved approximately 1,600 megawatts worth of new biomass and gas-fired power plant projects, Monday, in a move that the nation’s Energy Minister, Charles Hendry, says serve as “further example of our determination to clear the back-log of planning applications, to stimulate growth and enhance our energy security”. ...
IRJ – October 31 - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei reiterated the nation’s stance on ownership of the South China Sea, and warned would-be oil explorer/producers against eyeing the territory. Since U.S. petroleum giant ExxonMobil announced that it had found hydrocarbons in an offshore region of central Vietnam, August, which China claims to own, the message has been ...
IRJ – October 31 – Following a coal mine explosion at a Chinese project on October 29, new publically disclosed figures reveal that the nation’s mine site fatalities for the month total almost 100 lives lost. The 97 people killed, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, may now put pressure on increasing import demand in line with government reductions ...
