down 10% raising going to happen? , page-4

Well they did raise some money

They used staff to get the 2nd longwall in place and other coal output fell.

The port had issues

Mother India helped out

Carbon tax now on top of them

Does this company ever get a clean 3 months where they just produce , export and get paid for what they dig up?

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/gujarat-flags-profit-slump/2565351.aspx

Gujarat flags profit slump
BEVAN SHIELDS
23 May, 2012 04:00 AM
One of the region’s biggest coal miners has experienced a 60 per cent profit slump after a year of operational upheaval.
Gujarat NRE Coking Coal Limited informed the Australian Stock Exchange this week it expected to record a $9.77million net profit after tax for the 2011-12 financial year compared with $24.64 million the previous year.

Lower production volumes contributed to the result, with production restricted to just above one million tonnes after workers who should have been extracting coal were diverted to help get critical new longwall mining equipment online at Russell Vale.

The company also pointed to ‘‘adverse geological conditions on a few occasions’’.

The ASX statement also contained a long-term production forecast of more than five million tonnes of coal per annum by 2016.

The company has previously said it was on track to achieve six million tonnes per annum by 2015.

The preliminary results also revealed total revenue of $184.6million, a 19 per cent reduction from the previous year’s $227.4million.

About 600 people are employed at Russell Vale and Wongawilli.

In March, the Department of Primary Industries ruled the company could use $90million worth of new longwall mining equipment in one underground panel at Russell Vale. Approval to mine a further 20 panels rests with the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure.

The company said longwall mining at both mines would ‘‘not only increase the total production of coking coal from both the mines but would also considerably reduce the per tonne cost of production’’.

Meantime, the board of Gujarat’s Indian parent company, Gujarat NRE Coke Limited, last week agreed to seek shareholder permission to issue its Australian subsidiary with a guarantee or provide securities of up to $100million.

The ASX announcement did little to lift Gujarat’s share price, which closed yesterday at 16¢.

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http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/better-ways-to-get-your-point-across/2562950.aspx

Better ways to get your point across
EDITORIAL
21 May, 2012 09:50 AM
Under normal circumstances, a graffiti attack on a front fence would not make the pages of the Mercury.
But an incident at the Cliff Rd home of Gujarat NRE Coking Coal executive chairman Arun Jagatramka in April continues to draw considerable - and warranted - attention, purely because of its wider ramifications

Sadly, the implication of the attack, along with this month’s cowardly online confession, is that it has drowned out sensible players in the very important debate over the balance between mining and the environment.

When passion turns criminal, peaceful protesters and activists are tarred with the same brush and gradually, their views are pushed aside or become diminished, regardless of their merit.

Even the NSW Minerals Council agrees radical elements of the debate harm the cause of other ‘‘mainstream voices with legitimate concerns’’.

We agree with their statement that environmental and economic extremists have no place in a public debate about one of the nation’s key policy matters.

The sooner police catch these and other idiots like them, the sooner serious debate can get back on track.


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http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/ecovandals-put-hand-up-for-cliff-rd-graffiti/2562280.aspx?storypage=2


'Ecovandals' put hand up for Cliff Rd graffiti
BEVAN SHIELDS
21 May, 2012 08:28 AM
A group of self-declared ‘‘ecovandals’’ have claimed responsibility for a graffiti attack on the Wollongong home of Indian mining magnate Arun Jagatramka.
Anti-mining slogans were sprayed across the front fence of the Gujarat NRE Coking Coal executive chairman’s imposing Cliff Rd property last month.


OUR SAY: Better ways to get your point across
In an anonymous post on a WikiLeaks-style website three weeks later, a group revealed their motivation for the attack, labelling Mr Jagatramka an ‘‘international capitalist’’ whose Russell Vale coal mine was damaging the environment.

‘‘In attacking his property we wished to send him a signal that neither his money nor the police can protect him from those who love wild nature more than money,’’ the post claimed.

‘‘As carbon emissions continue to soar ... it is time those who care about the fate of the earth and the living beings that inhabit it to take a stand against the machinery and individuals which are polluting our common landbase.’’

The post had been read more than 300 times.

Last month’s attack was captured by CCTV but police have been unable to track down the vandals.

The scrawl included ‘‘carbon criminal’’, ‘‘I smell a gujarat’’ and ‘‘can’t eat coal, can’t drink gas’’.

The incident was immediately condemned by the NSW Minerals Council and environmental lobby group Lock The Gate Alliance.

The anonymous post on the indymedia.org.au website also claimed $90 million worth of longwall mining equipment recently installed at Russell Vale would cause unacceptable environmental harm.

‘‘We refuse to sit idly by like ‘good’ lawful protesters - we will turn our outrage into action,’’ it said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Jagatramka did not respond to requests for comment.
A NSW Minerals Council spokesman said the right to speak out on issues should be respected but vandalising private property to make a political point was a crime.
‘‘These cowardly criminal acts and anonymous threats are evidence that certain groups are prepared to move beyond peaceful protests to ‘direct acts of sabotage’ against the mining industry and others,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘It reaffirms the fact that the so-called ‘anti-coal movement’ has been infiltrated by extremists previously on the fringes of sensible debate, who are prepared to flout the law to proliferate their political views,’’ he said.
‘‘These environmental and economic extremists have no place in considered public discussions about key policy issues across NSW.’’
CCTV footage showed three men outside the home about 4.45am on April 10.
Two of the men were last seen running west along George Pl while the third was seen running south along Cliff Rd.
Mr Jagatramka’s Cliff Rd home was completed late last year after the site was purchased by his Indian mining company for $5million in 2008.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Wollongong Police or Crime Stoppers.



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http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/coal-causes-backlog-of-ships-at-port-kembla/2563843.aspx

Coal causes backlog of ships at Port Kembla
CHRIS PAVER
22 May, 2012 04:00 AM
A backlog of ships anchored off the Illawarra coast has grown because of the small coal stockpile and planned maintenance at Port Kembla’s busy coal terminal.
Port Kembla Port Corporation chief executive officer Dom Figliomeni said he could not remember more vessels being queued at once.

‘‘If you really looked at it, ideally you would have one ship at berth and probably three or four at anchor, which is what we used to have until recently,’’ he said.

Fifteen ships at anchor yesterday were waiting to access the Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT).

Mr Figliomeni said the terminal was very busy, which meant any delays had a flow-on effect.

Issues including scheduled maintenance, logistical problems, rail system inadequacies outside the port and industrial action earlier this year might have contributed, he said.

‘‘The stockpile is very small, which means ships have to wait until we can consolidate the cargo.’’

Rail paths into the port and the berth’s high utilisation were both pressing issues.

A similar number of vessels were forced to wait offshore when rolling strike action crippled the terminal in February, although coal terminal general manager Peter Green said the present backlog was unrelated.

‘‘Coal receivals to stockyard are behind what is needed for the number of vessels at anchor,’’ he said.

‘‘In early May PKCT completed planned maintenance shutdowns that have limited some coal receival.’’

The terminal lost about five days this month due to maintenance, hitting loading and receivals.

At present the stockyard holds about 215,000 tonnes of coal, or about one-third of its working capacity.

‘‘So there is more room to receive coal, assign to vessels at anchor and proceed to load,’’ Mr Green said.

‘‘Ideally for such a number of vessels at anchor, PKCT would have coal being received into the stockyard and loaded out concurrently.’’

Mr Green said the 15 vessels at anchor represented about 18 to 20 days of loading.

On the issue of boosting capacity, he said PKCT had nearly finished an expression of interest process to determine the additional needs of the region’s coalmines.

PKCT is operated by BHP Billiton, Gujarat NRE, Xstrata, Centennial Coal, Tahmoor Coal and Peabody Energy.

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http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/shellharbour-council-illawarra-miners-on-carbon-tax-list/2545120.aspx?storypage=2

Shellharbour council, Illawarra miners on carbon tax list
JUDITH IRELAND
04 May, 2012 02:50 PM
Illawarra miners and Shellharbour City Council are among about 250 companies that will pay the carbon tax when it is introduced on July 1.

The Clean Energy Regulator has today published an initial list of 250 ''liable entities'' who will face the $23 per tonne tax, however a further 80 companies have also notified that are likely to face the new tax in the 2012-2013 financial year.


It says these companies and facilities will account for more than 95 per cent of emissions covered by the carbon price mechanism. The list will continually be updated.


Illawarra mining companies Dendrobium Coal, Metropolitan Collieries, Illawarra Coke Company and Gujarat NRE Coking Coal are listed.


Shellharbour City Council also appears on the list, but Wollongong City Council does not.


Other entities listed by the regulator today include BlueScope Steel, the City of Armadale, Rio Tinto and Thales.


The government has been estimating that about 500 companies would pay the carbon tax.


"I think we'll come in underneath 500 but it is a matter for the regulator to determine," Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said.


Mr Combet said the initial list was based on greenhouse emissions reporting by companies over the last four to five years.


This comes as Independent MP Rob Oakeshott is threatening to block a key element of the government's carbon scheme.


Mr Oakeshott was a member of the multi-party committee that developed the scheme but says he wants the floor price on carbon scrapped because it will harm business.


The Member for Lyne said he may vote against regulations to introduce a floor price because he wanted businesses to have the flexibility to buy cheaper carbon permits overseas when the emissions trading scheme is introduced.


"It is certainly one of the options, as is reconvening the multi-party climate change committee and trying to renegotiate some of the aspects," he told the ABC.


The carbon tax is due to come in on July 1. It will operate at a fixed price for three years before moving to an emissions trading scheme in 2015. But even then, there will be a floor price - to limit how low it can go - until 2018.


Mr Combet said he spoke to Mr Oakeshott about his position last night and they would continue with discussions, but that the independent's views were no surprise.


''This has been his position,'' Mr Combet told reporters in Canberra.


''His view was always that the sooner we get to a fully flexible price the better.''


Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the floor price was a question for the future.


''Making a regulation about a price floor will happen at some time in the future,'' she told reporters in Melbourne today.


''We are consulting on how to do the floor price and there's certainly no rush in that process.''


But the Greens argue scrapping the floor price would hurt both business certainty and action on climate change.


"Speculation about disallowing the floor price regulations sends a strong signal of uncertainty to business and, because of that, I will be asking Mr Oakeshott to reaffirm his commitment to the climate package as negotiated,'' Greens leader Christine Milne said in a statement this afternoon.


"Mr Oakeshott understands that the Climate Change Committee negotiated a package as a whole where each element has impacts on all others.''


The week the government had faced continued criticism of the carbon tax from both the Coalition and Labor members.


Former NSW premier Kristina Keneally - who went to the state election last year in support of the carbon tax - urged Ms Gillard to dump or "dial back" the tax in a bid to save herself at the next election.