Bounty Mining halts production at Cook Colliery

Spanish Market: Coal, Coking coal
18/12/19

Australia's Bounty Mining has halted production at its 1mn t/yr capacity Cook Colliery coking coal mine after struggling to increase output following a roof collapse at the mine in October.

International accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and receivers yesterday took control of Bounty Mining's assets, undertakings and day to day operations.

"We intend to transition the Cook Colliery's operations into care and maintenance whilst we undertake an urgent assessment of the business and explore all options to sell and/or restructure the business for the future," PwC said.

Bounty Mining went into administration following "a period of depressed coking coal prices, production shortfalls in the wake of previously announced roof falls and the inability of the board to source the additional funds required to support the company in its transition to place change mining".

Falling coking coal prices have exerted increased pressure on producers since the second half of this year. The Argus assessment for premium low-volatile hard coking coal prices has dropped by 34pc since June this year to $134.90/t fob Australia yesterday.

"Bounty has been in a pretty dire financial state for a while and they have had a lot of investment to keep them above ground for this year in particular," an Australia-based trader said.

The roof collapse at Cook Colliery temporarily halted mining operations in mid-October. Operations resumed just a week later with just one of the two operating continuous mining machines.

Bounty had been struggling to boost production at the mine even before the roof collapse, possibly falling short of its 1mn t/yr run-of-mine target by producing only 151,000t of coal during April-June, which was up from the 146,000t produced for January-March.

Privately-owned Australian coal mining firm Qcoal earlier in October won a battle to control Bounty's finances and future offtake from US-based coal supplier Xcoal.

By Rou Urn Lee

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22/04/25

FERC commissioner Phillips resigns from agency

Washington, 22 April (Argus) — Democratic commissioner Willie Phillips has resigned from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) after serving more than three years at an agency responsible for permitting natural gas infrastructure and regulating wholesale power markets. Phillips' departure will clear the way for President Donald Trump to nominate a replacement at FERC, who once confirmed by the US Senate would provide Republicans a 3-2 majority for the first time since 2021. Phillips, whose term was not set to expire until June 2026, had a reputation for negotiating bipartisan deals on contentious orders involving pipelines and power market issues in the two years he served as FERC's chairman under former president Joe Biden. Phillips has yet to release a statement explaining his abrupt resignation. But Trump has already fired Democratic commissioners and board members at other agencies that, like FERC, are structured as independent from the White House. Two of the fired Democrats, who were serving at the US Federal Trade Commission, have filed a lawsuit that argues their removal was unlawful under a 1935 decision by the US Supreme Court. The White House did not respond to a question on whether it had pressured Phillips to resign. FERC chairman Mark Christie, a Republican, offered praise for Phillips as a "dedicated and selfless public servant" who sought to "find common ground and get things done to serve the public interest". Christie for months has been downplaying the threats to FERC's independence caused by Trump's executive order that asserts sweeping control over FERC's agenda. Energy companies have come to depend on FERC in serving as independent arbiter in disputes over pipeline tariffs and electricity markets, without the consideration of political preferences of the White House. Former FERC chairman Neil Chatterjee, a Republican who served in Trump's first term, said in a social media post it was "disappointing" to see Phillips pushed out after he "played it straight" in his work at the agency. As chairman, Phillips was able to authorize a "massive LNG project" — the 28mn t/yr CP2 project — at a time when Biden had sought to pause LNG licensing, Chatterjee said. Separately, Paul Atkins was sworn in as the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 21 April, after the US Senate voted 52-44 earlier this month in favor of his confirmation. Atkins was previously the chief executive of financial consulting firm Patomak Global Partners and served as an SEC commissioner from 2002-08. Republicans will now have a 3-1 majority at the SEC. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Tariff ‘shock’ prompts IMF to cut growth outlook

22/04/25

Tariff ‘shock’ prompts IMF to cut growth outlook

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Coal India, DVC to build 1.6GW of thermal power plants

22/04/25

Coal India, DVC to build 1.6GW of thermal power plants

Singapore, 22 April (Argus) — State-owned producer Coal India (CIL) plans to develop 1.6GW of coal-fired power capacity under a joint venture with state-controlled utility Damodar Valley (DVC) to meet rising demand and expand its non-coal revenue. India's top coal producer CIL plans to set up two brownfield thermal power units of 800MW each with DVC in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, the company announced on 21 April. The brownfield expansion will be carried out at DVC's 500MW Chandrapura thermal power station. The 50:50 joint venture plans to invest 165bn rupees ($1.94bn) towards the expansion. The expanded capacity will source coal from the regional mines of CIL's subsidiary companies, Bharat Coking Coal and Central Coalfields. The firms did not disclose the timeline for the completion of this expansion. CIL has geared up to construct several super-critical or ultra super-critical pit-head thermal power plants to support the nation's requirement for affordable and reliable energy, the company said in its annual report for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2024. CIL announced plans to set up two brownfield thermal power units of 800MW each with state-owned utility Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (RRVUNL) at the latter's existing Kalisindh thermal project in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan in September 2024. India's installed thermal capacity stood at 247GW as of 31 March, with coal accounting for 215GW of this, and the rest being lignite, diesel and natural gas, according to data from the country's Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The country's total power capacity stood at 475GW as of 31 March. India plans to raise its electricity generation capacity by more than fourfold over the next two decades to cater to rising domestic demand, although the focus would be on boosting power production from cleaner sources of energy as the country takes steps to cut emissions. New Delhi is aiming to achieve a generation capacity of 2,100GW by 2047, power minister Manohar Lal Khattar said at the launch of National Electricity Plan for power transmission in October 2024. By Ajay Modi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

India’s thermal coal imports ease in March

21/04/25

India’s thermal coal imports ease in March

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IMF anticipates lower growth from US tariffs

17/04/25

IMF anticipates lower growth from US tariffs

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