Coal mine collapses in Jharkhand's Lalmatia, 40 workers feared trapped under debris
As many as 40 to 50 workers are feared trapped after a mine collapsed in Lalmatia in Jharkhand last night.
A heap of mud caved-in at the entry point of Latmatia mines of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) in Godda district, the police said.
Apart from workers, over 40 vehicles were also inside at the time of the cave-in at the Rajmahal Open Cast Mines of Paharia Bhorya site, the CISF said.
The locals said that there was crack in the heap of mud, which collapsed and blocked the entry point of the mine. Mining operations were taking place about 200 feet beneath the ground.
"The exact count of people and vehicles trapped inside cannot be said with certainty. This could only become clear after the rescue operation starts," said Godda Superintendent of Police Harilal Chauhan.
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Power sector sees 6% fall in coal supply from CIL
The supply of coal to the power sector by the state–owned CIL saw a fall of 6 per cent at 33.7 million tonnes last month even as the government claimed in October that the demand for the fossil fuel has started picking up.
The despatch of dry fuel by Coal India Ltd (CIL) to the power sector in November last year stood at 35.9 million tonnes (MT), according to government data.
The supply of coal by CIL in April–November period of the ongoing fiscal also dropped by 4 per cent to 250.7 MT over 261.4 MT in the corresponding period last fiscal. The supply of coal by Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) during the April – November period was almost flat at 31.3 MT against 31.1 MT in the year–ago period.
SCCL is a government coal mining company jointly owned by Telangana and the Centre on a 51:49 equity basis.
The government, in October, had said that there were no plans to cut down coal production as the demand had already picked up.
In October, the demand started picking up for both coal and power sectors, it had said.
CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, is eyeing 598 MT production in 2016–17. CIL has a target to produce 1 billion tonnes of fossil fuel by 2020. — PTI
State-owned Sichuan Coal defaults on bond for second time
A state-owned Chinese coal firm has missed a repayment on a bond for the second time this year, amid increasing concerns that defaults may surge as trillions of yuan in onshore bonds mature next year.
Sichuan Coal Industry Group, owned by the government of the south-western Sichuan province, failed to repay the principal and interest on 1 billion yuan in three-year private placement notes (PPN) with a 7.5 per cent coupon due on December 25.
The company’s previous default, six months ago, was only resolved with government intervention. On that occasion, Sichuan Coal, the biggest coal producer in the province, missed a payment of 1.05 billion yuan of bond principal and interest that was due in mid-June.
Back then the bondholders managed to secure a full repayment after the local government stepped in. The company repaid investors in July with entrusted loans from the state-owned Sichuan Provincial Investment Group which obtained them from the company’s underwriters including Bank of Communications and three other state-owned banks.
The company will face intensifying debt repayment pressure in the future as the next one to two years will see the amount of debt that comes due surge
The second default is a reminder to investors of the deteriorating fundamentals of the company, and suggests that even government support may not be enough to reverse that deterioration.
Sichuan Coal first slipped into the red in 2012, and made more than 10 million yuan in losses every year after that. From 2013 to 2015, the gross margin of its coal-related business was in a pronounced decline, falling 33 per cent, 20 per cent and 6 per cent in each of those three years respectively. It dropped further into negative territory in the first quarter of this year.
In 2015 the company generated revenue of 8.25 billion yuan, 23.36 per cent down from the previous year, and made a net loss at 1.38 billion yuan which was a 93.17 per cent drop from 2014.
The decline accelerated earlier this year, with earnings tumbling more than 225 per cent in the first quarter, deeper into loss-making territory.
“The company’s leverage keeps rising, with its debt-to-asset ratio hitting 88.48 per cent on March 27 2016,” according to a report issued in May this year by Shanghai Brilliance Credit Rating & Investors Service.
“The company will face intensifying debt repayment pressure in the future as the next one to two years will see the amount of debt that comes due surge.”
Chinese coal firms have struggled as the country’s worst economic slowdown in a quarter of a century batters demand and Premier Li Keqiang vows to cut excess capacity in industry.
Sichuan Coal is not the only company facing huge challenges.
China needs a clear mechanism to address bond defaults
A total of 5.5 trillion yuan in bonds will come due in 2017, which is 1.8 trillion yuan more than matured in 2016, leading to the possibility of a sharp rise in bond default cases next year, according to Yan Yan, the chairman of China Chengxin International Credit Rating Group.
Bond defaults, which never happened in China before 2014 because of an implicit government guarantee, is quickly becoming the new norm.
So far, the mainland has seen 89 defaults on bonds, involving 52 bond issuers and worth a total value of 50.69 billion yuan. Of these, 61 cases happened this year alone, according to data from Wind Information.
In addition, the number of companies whose credit ratings were downgraded by rating agencies reached 220 as of mid-December, a sharp increase from 115 in the whole of 2015
Tata Steel Special Economic Zone seeks more time to set up SEZ
Tata SteelBSE 0.39 % Special Economic Zone Ltd has sought more time from the government for setting up a multi-product SEZ in Odisha.
The company's proposal will be taken up in the meeting of the Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, on January 6 here, an official said.
Formal approval to the developer was granted on June 18, 2007, over an area of 1,173 hectare.
The developer has already been granted seven extensions, validity period of which was up to December 17 this year.
It has "requested for further extension so as to implement the project. The request of the developer is accordingly placed before BoA for its consideration," the official added.
Besides, the board will consider other proposals including G P Realtors and Mittal Infratech which have sought more time to implement their projects.
G P Realtors Pvt Ltd has proposed to set up sector specific SEZ for electronic hardware and IT/ITES in Haryana. Mittal Infratech too wants to set up IT/ITES zone in that state.
SEZs are export hubs of the country. Exports from special economic zones logged a marginal growth of 0.77 per cent to Rs 4.67 lakh crore in 2015-16.
The exports from such 204 zones were Rs 4.63 lakh crore in 2014-15.
According to the Commerce Ministry's data, as on March 31, these zones have attracted investments worth Rs 3.76 lakh crore and have generated employment for 15.91 lakh people.
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Warm Regards
Anurag Singal
Sr Manager –Business Development
Essel Mining & Industries Ltd
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