Coal Age

APR 2013

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news continued Continued from pg 6... 420 metric tons of carbon dioxide per gigawatt-hour. Emissions that are captured by using carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS, are exempt. SunCoke Energy, VISA Steel Launch Joint Venture in India SunCoke Energy and VISA Steel announced the launch of their coke making joint venture in India. It will be called VISA SunCoke Ltd. SunCoke Energy holds a 49% interest in the joint venture, with VISA Steel holding the remaining 51%. SunCoke has invested approximately Rs. 368 Crores ($67 million) to acquire a 49% stake in the joint venture. VISA SunCoke will operate a 400,000-metric ton heat recovery coke plant, and the associated steam generation units at Kalinganagar in Odisha, India. SunCoke and VISA Steel will co-manage the business with equal representation on the partnership's board. Australian Mines Earn Safety Awards Peabody Energy's Eaglefield, Wambo underground and Burton mines have earned President's Safety Awards for achieving the company's best Australian safety performance based on incidence rate in 2012. These operations helped drive the best safety results in Peabody's 130-year history. Eaglefield mine employees received the honor for operating as the safest open-cut operation, achieving zero reportable incidents for the third consecutive year. The mine has operated incident-free for more than 41 months. Eaglefield is located at the northern end of the Bowen Basin in Queensland and employs approximately 220 people. The Wambo mine received the honor for safest underground operation, in part by reducing its incident rate 38% year-over-year. The mine is located in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales and has a workforce of 250. Employees at the Burton mine received the most improved safety performance award based on an injury rate reduction of 50% from 2011. Burton is located at the northern end of the Bowen Basin in Queensland, and provides employment for approximately 610 people. The President's Award for Safety is Peabody's highest safety honor for its Australia platform. For 2012, Peabody's Australian platform achieved an incidence rate of 2.50, which is a 9% improvement from the prior year. Rinehart & Aurizon to Build Queensland Coal Infrastructure Gina Rinehart's part-owned Queensland coal company has joined with Aurizon to develop new rail and port facilities for the Galilee Basin worth about $6 billion, The West Australian reported. Freight company Aurizon said the development will unlock Galilee Basin coal reserves and help support the next phase of coal growth in the Bowen Basin. Aurizon and Rinehart's company, GVK Hancock, plan to develop and manage a port and rail project with the capacity to ship 60 million metric tons per year. The projects involve a greenfield rail project and a development right for a coal terminal at Abbot Point. Under the proposed deal, Aurizon will acquire a 51% interest in Hancock Coal Infrastructure, which owns GVK Hancock's rail and port projects. ˛ 8 www.coalage.com against Patriot Coal's bid to transfer $2.3 billion in retiree medical and pension liabilities onto their businesses, company representatives said. Officials at the companies, both subsidiaries of Murray Energy Corp., maintain the liabilities, subsidizing retiree medical costs, have been designated for workers their companies never employed. If approved, they added, Patriot would leave 95,000 retired miners and their spouses without these benefits. Patriot Coal has signed multi-employer collective bargaining agreements with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), providing retiree medical coverage and pension benefits. The UMWA's 1974 Pension Plan has since been certified as underfunded, according to Ohio Valley officials; having employed about 11,000 retired miners, Patriot is the plan's No. 2 contributor. Ohio Valley Coal officials said they filed the motion as Patriot sought to fund a maximum of $300 million in liabilities, leaving a remaining $2 billion with other companies signed onto a UMWA wage agreement. If successful, Patriot officials would cause the decimation of the remaining companies at a cost of thousands of jobs to the industry, Ohio Valley officials said. Beyond its court petitions, Ohio Valley has initiated a broad-based awareness campaign targeting Washington lawmakers and the public about Patriot Coal and its unfunded liabilities. Federal Court Grants Judgment Against Kentucky Coal Mine Operator The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky has granted a default judgment against D&C; Mining Corp. of Harlan County, Ky., affirming the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) complaint. The mine operator owes $1.67 million in unpaid civil penalties, along with interest and administrative costs. According to the judgment, D&C; is enjoined from violating, failing or refusing to comply with any final orders issued under the Mine Act by failing to pay already delinquent or future civil money penalties. The judgment also orders D&C; to post an appropriate bond with MSHA to guarantee future compliance with the Mine Act—including the payment of final orders issued under the Mine Act—and to keep all property in which it holds an ownership interest securely at the site of its existing mine and not sell or move the property to any other location. "Not only has this mine operator repeatedly disregarded health and safety standards and put its miners at tremendous risk, it has flouted any attempt by the federal government to collect penalties for violations that have been assessed," said Joseph A. Main, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. "MSHA will continue to work with the Department of Justice to pursue mine operators that blatantly refuse to pay their penalties while continuing to operate." In March 2012, the Labor Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky filed the complaint against D&C; Mining alleging that the company owes $1.67 million in civil penalties for 1,244 violations cited between January 24, 2006, and February 8, 2012. D&C; Mining has undergone 10 impact inspections by MSHA since April 2010, more than any other mining operation in the country. April 2013

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