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said; pending Q1 2015 operation, the project is petitioning further permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Oregon's Department of State Lands. The project will ship low-sulfur coal via rail from Intermountain states to the Port of Morrow near Boardman, Ore., before being trans- ferred to an enclosed storage facility and loaded onto covered barges through an enclosed conveyor. Next, the coal will be shipped down the Columbia River to the Port of St. Helens' Port Westward Industrial Park. Once there, enclosed transloaders will place the coal onto covered, oceangoing Panamax ships. WV Chemical Spill Affects Rosebud Mining Ohio mining regulators appear unlikely to grant a request by a local citizens group to place on hold new coal mine applications by Rosebud Mining in the wake of January's chemical spill that left 300,000 people without water in neighboring West Virginia. Carroll Concerned Citizens (CCC) asked the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in February to delay the Rosebud applications, including one for a new underground mine south of Carrollton, a village in northeastern Ohio. The mine will be a room-and-pillar operation. The group said Rosebud owner J. Clifford Forrest also owns Freedom Industries, the company responsible for the January 9 spill. Attempts to reach Forrest for comment were unsuccessful. In the letter, the group told ODNR Director James Zehringer the state agency should hold Rosebud's mining applications to "greater enhanced scrutiny" to protect Carrollton and Carroll County. Among other things, CCC says it is concerned about the possibility of subsidence damage from future underground min- ing by Rosebud. But the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management, which is part of ODNR and reviews coal mining applications, has no intention to delay any review of Rosebud requests, according to Brent Heavilin, permitting manager for ODMRM. The Vail underground mine, Rosebud's newest operation in Ohio, finally began production in early 2013 in Harrison County and turned out about 206,000 tons last year. Altogether, Rosebud's approximately two dozen deep and surface mines in Ohio and Pennsylvania typically produce about 7 million tons of thermal coal annually. Essar Moves Forward with Reorganization Plan India's Essar Group has provided $150 million to fund a final Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan for its U.S. Central Appalachian coal operations headed by its Trinity Coal Corp. subsidiary and sever- al affiliates. The financial infusion followed Essar Global Fund's decision late last year to essentially repurchase Trinity's coal mining assets from several banks that forced Trinity into involuntary bankruptcy on February 19, 2013, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Credit Agricole SA, Natixis and ING Groep NV claimed they were owed approximately $104.3 million by Trinity, and that Trinity had stopped paying its bills. In the ensuing months, Essar reversed its stance on the U.S. hold- ings. At first, it favored a proposal to sell them through the bankruptcy court process. Last fall, however, the company changed its mind and decided to buy them back. n e w s c o n t i n u e d said that TATA Power holds the stake in Mitratama Perkasa through its Indonesian subsidiary PT Sumber Energi Andalan Tbk, which signed the deal with Bakrie Group. TATA Power, through its subsidiaries, would continue to hold 30% stake in PT Kaltim Prima Coal. Argentina's First 100% Coal-fired Plant Nears Completion Work on the 240-MW Santa Cruz province power plant associated with Argentina's state coal miner YCRT has reached 90% comple- tion, according to BN Americas . The plant's developer, Isolux Corsán, expects to conduct generation tests in December. The US$350 mil- lion project was initially slated to come online 2011. YCRT expects to have stockpiled enough coal from its Río Turbio mine by year-end to run the power plant for two years, Coal Imports by Indian Power Companies Surge Indian Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that coal imports by Indian power producers surged 31% to 66 million metric tons (mt) in April-January compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Reuters , as coal-based generation rose but domestic coal shortage continued. India's rush to add power capacity after years of under-investment has forced electricity generators includ- ing NTPC Ltd. to import coal heavily as state-run monopoly Coal India Ltd. has struggled to meet demand. Scindia said that in April to January power producers imported 31 million mt of coal to blend them with lower quality varieties and about 35 million mt for plants that depend exclusively on coal from overseas. He said that India's coal-based power generation rose 8% to 587.64 KWh during the period from a year earlier. Power companies are likely to import 82 million mt this fiscal year ending March 31. Russia's Coal Exports Continue to Climb Russia's export of coal in January grew by 18.1% to 12.26 million metric tons (mt), the fuel and energy complex's Central Dispatch Service reported. The domestic supplies reduced by 5.8% to 16.73 million mt year-on-year. January coal production in the Russian Federation grew by 3.5% to 28.49 million mt. Two upgrading coal exporting facilities are expected to come online soon. Russian coal mining company Mechel is commissioning a new coal terminal at Port Posiet in Russia's Primorye region. The $128 million port upgrade will enable the company to significantly enhance Asia-Pacific exports; industrial operation will begin in Q2 2014. The first stage includes revamping coal loading capabilities to handle 7 million metric tons a year (mtpy). The upgrade will allow the port to load 28,000 mtpd of coal. The equipment was provided by the ThyssenKrupp AG, which is overseeing start-up and commissioning. The second stage includes construction of a deep-water berth and bottom dredging of the approach channel for Panamax-type vessels of up to 60,000-mt cargo capacity; Primorye borders China and North Korea and faces the Sea of Japan. Russia's Volga Group has acquired a 50% stake in Sukhodol LLC, the company that is constructing the new bulk terminal at Sukhodol Bay in Russia's Primorsk territory. The group said that, when complet- ed, the terminal should have a capacity of 20 million mt per year, and it will also be used to export coal to Asia-Pacific markets. Volga said that construction of the first stage of the terminal is scheduled to be Continued from p. 5... 6 www.coalage.com March 2014 Continued on p. 8... CA_pg04-23_V2_CA_pg06-23 3/12/14 12:24 PM Page 6