LONDON (AP) — Mining company Anglo American PLC has posted a $1.5 billion net loss for 2012 due to weak commodity prices and problems with a Brazilian iron ore project.
Driven by a surge in natural gas production through shale drilling, foreign and domestic steel makers are looking to build new factories that would use gas to purify iron ore, Bloomberg reports.
BEIJING (AP) — Voracious demand for wood to feed factories for exports and satisfy wealthier consumers at home has turned China into a magnet for the illegal timber trade, causing other countries to strip their forests as Beijing does little to discourage the practices, an environmental group said in a report released Thursday.
The Australian government pushed a new 30 percent tax on big mining companies through Parliament on Monday but faces an uphill battle to reduce the tax burden on struggling companies outside the booming commodities sector.
The Senate passed the legislation 38 votes to 32, allowing the government to take a bigger slice of profits from a mining boom driven by Chinese and Indian demand for raw materials.
The Energy Information Administration said coal's market share for electricity generation rebounded since March 2012 on higher natural gas prices, MarketWatch reports.
Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe switched his position on offshore drilling of the state's coast, supporting a pro-drilling bill introduced by Virginia's Democratic senators, The Washington Post reports.
Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer urged NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane to complete an investigation and hold a public hearing before allowing the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to restart, Southern California Public Radio reports.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., called for a GAO report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's procedures for determining the costs of new regulations, Platts reports.
FracFocus, an industry-backed registry for hydraulic fracturing chemicals, will update its system to allow regulators to search through a database of chemicals next week, Bloomberg reports.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent four staffers to assist Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts Senate special election, Roll Call reports.
A group of two dozen Senate Republicans urged President Obama against making Keystone XL pipeline approval contingent on "unrelated" climate change policies, The Hill reports.
The American Petroleum Institute issued a white paper projecting new federal rules could increase gasoline prices by as much as 25 cents a gallon, The Washington Examiner reports.
California Jerry Brown contended news media inadequately report on climate change and give too much coverage climate skeptics, The Sacramento Bee reports.
