Both China and Japan will likely shift to clean coal power plants --tapping Mongolia's huge coal deposits... Mongolia is to coal what Saudi Arabia is to oil:
Mongolia May Unveil Winning Bids for Tavan Tolgoi Next Month
April 13th, 2011
Source: BLOOMBERG
April 13, 2011
Mongolia may announce the winning bids to develop Tavan Tolgoi, one of the world’s biggest untapped coal deposits, next month, said an official at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.
“Negotiations are still ongoing,” Erdenepurev Amarkhuu, director-general of fuel policy at the ministry, told reporters in Beijing today. Mongolia will choose more than one of the six groups shortlisted for the project, he said.
Talks are underway on the contract for the central and western part of the site, Baterdene Ragchaa, a spokesman for Erdenes MGL LLC, the state-controlled owner of the deposit, said on March 31. The shortlist includes Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU), a Shenhua Group Corp.-Mitsui & Co. venture, Vale SA (VALE3), a Russia- Japan-South Korea group, ArcelorMittal (MT), andXstrata Plc (XTA), Erdene Executive Director Baasangombo Enebish said on March 5.
“Definitely not one,” Amarkhuu said, when asked about the number of winners. “It’ll be a combination of the companies.”
The government is seeking mining expertise and infrastructure development, including railway construction, Amarkhuu said. Mongolia is also targeting “value-added production” including coal-to-liquid and coal-to-gas projects, he said.
The western and central part of Tavan Tolgoi holds more than 1 billion metric tons of coal, 68 percent of which can be used for steelmaking and the rest as fuel in power plants, Enebish said in March.
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minegolia.com
Japan wants nuclear plant’s reactors shut until sea wall built
By Shino Yuasa
Associated Press / May 7, 2011
TOKYO — Japan urged a power company yesterday to suspend all three reactors at a coastal nuclear plant while a sea wall and other structures are built to help ensure a major earthquake or tsunami does not cause a second radiation crisis.
The move came as the government is conducting a safety review of all of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 25,000 people dead and missing on the northeast coast.
The Hamaoka nuclear plant, which is just 110 yards off the Pacific coast in central Japan, is the only one so far where the government has asked that operations be halted until the utility can implement safety measures.
Chubu Electric Power Co. said in a statement it will “swiftly consider’’ the government’s request. Government officials estimate the work could last two years.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said last night that he requested the shutdown for safety reasons, citing forecasts of a 90 percent probability of a quake of 8.0 magnitude or higher striking central Japan within 30 years.
The government asked Chubu Electric to suspend two running reactors and a third already shut for a regular inspection at the plant in Shizuoka, about 124 miles west of Tokyo.
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