Lightning kills 10, injures 8 in India.
HYDERABAD, India (AFP) Ten people were killed and eight others injured when they were struck by lightning during heavy rains in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, police said Sunday. The 10 victims were killed overnight Saturday, a police spokesman said. Torrential rains with...

BoI approves P3.8-billion coal, methane gas projects.
Byline: BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT Two projects worth P3.83 billion that will mine coal and produce methane gas to supply the fuel requirements of power plants and help avert the imminent shortage in power supply in the country have been approved by the Board of Investments for tax incentives....

Zambo farmers to get land titles.
BUUG, Zamboanga del Sur - President Estrada yesterday ordered the titling of 41,000 hectares of land to benefit 147,000 tenant farmers in the Malangas Coal Mines reservation here, freeing the land reserved since former President Elpidio Quirino's administration for the development of mineral resources. The President announced...

3 new coal operating contracts signed.
The Department of Energy (DoE) early this week inked three coal operating contracts (COCs) for exploration of various prospects in different parts of the country. The deals have been firmed up with Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) on two contracts for blocks in Naguilian, Isabela and...

P/$ stands at P40.85/$ 1.
The peso exchange rate closed at P40.85 to the US dollar last Friday at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp., (PDEx). The weighted average rate stands at P40.812. Taiwan firm invests in Clark A Taiwan-based firm is investing an initial $ 5 million to create...

NPC diversifies coal supply procurement.
Byline: MYRNA M. VELASCO State-owned National Power Corporation (NPC) will be pursuing diversification strategy in its coal supply procurement in view of the reported tight coal supply from China, which is presently its main supplier. NPC president Rogelio M. Murga stressed that the power firm...

Futuristic WPI device could help save lost firefighters, miners; Electronic `Mantenna,' relays would work like divining rod.
Byline: Jacqueline Reis WORCESTER - As scientists met this week at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to trade ideas on how to find trapped firefighters and other first responders, fate reminded them just how needed their nascent technology is. The six coal miners trapped 1,500 feet below...

PSE okays mineral reporting code.
More mining companies are expected to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) following the approval of the mineral reporting code, PSE President and Chief Executive Francis Lim said yesterday. The stock exchange has already approved a resolution adopting the use of the Philippine Mineral Reporting Code,...

DoE probes killer explosion at Cebu town mining site.
Byline: MARS W. MOSQUEDA JR. ARGAO, Cebu -- The Department of Energy (DoE) 7 has sent a four-member fact-finding team to Barangay Linot-od, this town, to investigate the methane gas explosion inside a small coal mine here that killed two workers. The DoE Visayas, the...

Coal use rises dramatically despite impacts on climate and health.
World coal consumption in 2006 reached a record 3,090 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe), an increase of 4.5 percent over 2005, and accounted for 25 percent of world primary energy supply and 32 percent of fossil fuel energy. Due to its high carbon content, however, coal accounted for...