i was reading in a newspaper yesterday that the spot market price for premium coaking coal is to hit $ 500 per ton due to a shortage
at the moment 55% of australian mines that produce premium hard coking coal at out of action due to the floods in australia…
there are also a nimber of mines that are not producing due to roof falls .
australia is the largest producer of quality coking coal in the world and at the moment supplies are down 13,000,000 tons a month
there is a bidding war on between china and india for coking coal to keep the furnaces operating as it would be a disaster for the steel works to have to shut down a furnace…very costly
the shortage is also due to the train lines in queensland being wrecked due to flooding and may be out of action for another month
…Sorry for all the flood / mine troubles there in Australia. I wonder if we here in America can fill the need under these circumstances.
I know we have varying ranges of coal available here, {lots of it}, but not sure just what is used for the Coking process. Would the coal in question be comparable to our Anthracite…?
I’m sure there are other forum members that can provide a far more detailed answer but Coking coal is Bituminous and we do produce plenty in the US. In fact, much of the coal exported from the US (and Canada) is coking grade. IINM, the best coking coal comes primarily from the Appalachia region (Powder River coal is no good for that application) although i know that Drummond coal in Alabama is also a major producer…
It sounds like NS’s Virginia coal dock might get a work out for the next few months. I have to imagine though that finding another supplier of coking coal on short notice and arranging it be shipped halfway around the world wouldn’t be easy.
I was out looking at some stevedoring facilities in New Orleans last week and the owner told me that they have received many calls about exporting coal due to the change in the world market.
premium coking coal is the top of the coal ranking when it comes to price powder river coal is allmost worthless when comparing prices… prc is for burning in power stations premium coking coal is for making coke and for steel making
the chines and indians are having problems keeping their blast furnaces going it costs lots of money to shut down a furnace and have to restart it as well as lost production
the main black water and moura lines are still under water
the open cut mines are still under water and are not allowed to simply pump great volumes of water into the river because the rivers are still in flood and towns down stream are still under water
there is also problems with the under ground mines 2 x long wall mines have strata ( roof ) problems on their longwalls 1 x has no road access also the town that serves the mine is under water and 2000 - 3000 homes are damaged
the mine i work at has two long walls both in good condition however the belt road has collapsed the surface became so water logged that the main belt road fell in when the roof strata lost strenth and collapsed it will take another 2 x weeks to be full open… in the mean time only persons in my position are allowed underground to do safety inspections… thanks peter
ps 77 ships waiting off mackay …qld…coal loaders nearly $ 2,000,000 in daily mooring fees