Comprehensive news

Illegal mining firms focus of campaign
More than 46,000 mining firms classified as being unsafe or heavy polluters have been closed down over the past two years, land and resources minister Xu Shaoshi said at a conference in Beijing yesterday.

China to rectify mineral development order again
China has recently decided to launch a campaign nationwide from March to May to rectify and normalize the mineral development order again.

China endeavors to restore production at 10,000 small coal mines
China's State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) is endeavoring to help more than 10,000 small coal mines to resume production after the severe winter weather, a source with the SAWS told Xinhua on Thursday.

China's steel industry to reinforce reorganization 
China's steel industrial acquisition will reach the peak in three years, according to Zhang Xiaogang, chairman of China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), and general manager of Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation.

China to set up mineral industry development fund
Industrial experts have called on the government to establish a large industry fund to encourage mineral enterprises to acquire more resources so as to cut mineral import reliance.

Resource shortage challenges China's copper industry
China's copper smelters' reliance on imported copper is a bottleneck for the development of copper industry, according to industrial experts here.

China's efforts to slash mineral exports pay off in 2007 
China's efforts to curb heavy outflow of non-renewable mineral resources from the country have paid off.

China, Algeria agree on further cooperation on energy resources, mining
Li Changchun, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said here Monday that China is ready to boost cooperation with Algeria in the fields of energy resources, mining, and telecommunications.

China to eliminate 70 mln tons of small coke production facilities 
The central task of China's coke industry is to eliminate 70 million tons of coke production facilities with small coke ovens of less than 4.3-meter height in the future, said an official of the National Development and Reform Commission on a seminar on March 27.

Analysis: risks ahead China's nonferrous metal industry
Worldwide economic risks and China's tight economic measures are anticipated to exert negative influence on China's nonferrous metal industry.

Policy

China's draft Energy Law to be submitted to State Council soon
China's draft Energy Law will be submitted to the State Council soon as the work of soliciting pubic opinions proceeds smoothly, revealed an official in charge of the Office of China's State Energy Leading Group.

China issues first batch of coal export quota for 2008
China National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has issued the first batch of coal export quota for 2008, amounting to 31.80 million tons, which was 25 percent less than last year's first batch quota of 42 million tons.

Tax policy of gold futures trading released
China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) and State Administration of Taxation (SAT) just released a circular to define relevant tax policy of gold futures trading.

China to raise tariff to curb steel export in 2008
China may raise tariff to rein in export of iron and steel products this year, said Luo Bingsheng, vice chairman of China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

Market

China's Q2 steel price soar to put costs pressure on downstream industries
Chinese experts estimate that steel prices will probably rise in April-June as Baosteel, China's flagship in iron and steel industry, decided to lift prices up to 800 yuan/ton.

Non-Chalco alumina smelters cut alumina price
Non-Chalco alumina smelters have cut alumina price from 4,300-4,450 yuan per ton to 3,600-3,700 yuan per ton due to mass alumina output release and shrinking demand, but Chalco (2600.HK; 601600.SH; ACH.NYSE) holds the price at 4,200 yuan per ton. 

 China's coal price hike to be limited
China's coal market will basically keep balance with the price rising trend restrained by the macro-control measures, industrial experts here predict.

China's rare earth mineral output down 8.83 pct in 2007, but sales revenue up 52 pct 
China's rare earth mineral output was 120,800 tons in 2007, declining 8.83 percent from 2006, and the output of rare earth smelted and split products was 126,000 tons (including 18,000 tons recovered from scraps, down 19.75 percent,  according to a report published by the National Development and Reform on March 27.

Mine safety

China jails senior coal mine officials for bribery
Two former senior officials in charge of the coal mine industry of northeast China's Jilin Province were jailed for taking bribes.

Merge and acquisition

Steel Firms Seek Global Expansion
Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, China's fifth-biggest steel maker, may buy iron ore assets and build plants overseas.

Zijin Mining aims to strike more gold overseas
Zijin Mining, the mainland's largest gold miner in terms of market value, expects its capital spending to reach 5 billion yuan this year as it seeks overseas acquisitions to boost its gold output.

Merger yields new iron-steel group in east China's Shandong 
A new steel and iron group was formed on Wednesday in the eastern province of Shandong.