The inauguration of the clearing house for Coal Bed Methane (CBM) this November at Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) here would be a high-voltage affair. For, officials from the energy department of the US and the country

yesterday urged the government to move to develop the Phulbari coal mine without any further delay.

They saw the huge coal reserve at the Phulbari coal mine as the only option now to deal with future energy crisis, particularly in power generation.

"We can easily produce 3,500MW of electricity from the coal to be extracted from the Phulbari mine,' said Rangpur Chamber President Mostafa Azad Chowdhury, adding that as the country's gas reserve is depleting fast, coal is becoming the only option for power generation.

Leaders of National Oil, Gas, Minerals and Power and Port Protection Committee yesterday reiterated their demand for implementation of the six-point agreement signed on August 30 in 2006.

The previous governments had initiated deals with Asia Energy, Tata Group and Mittal to extract coal near Barapukuria, they said while observing the second anniversary of Phulbari killing.

It appears that the draft coal policy began with a text heavily biased towards private investment and facilitating large margins of profit for the mining companies. Ideally, there should not be a problem with the private investor making large margins but not at the cost of national interests or doing away with all kinds of binding safeguards to protect the environment and livelihoods of thousands of people who would be displaced

Xstrata said on Tuesday it had shut down a ferronickel mining and processing operation in the Dominican Republic for at least four months due to soaring energy costs and lower nickel prices.

The Switzerland-based mining group said that its Falconbridge Dominicana (Falcondo) operation, which each year produced 29,000 tonnes or 2 per cent of the world's primary nickel, would be suspended until market conditions improved.

The eighth draft coal policy that emphasises immediate government-led action in coal sector to meet the country's surging energy demand is likely to be placed before the caretaker government's cabinet today.

The draft proposes to set up a "mine Bangla" in line with Petrobangla by 2010 to spearhead different mining schemes. This government body will take strategic partners from private sector through open tenders for quick development of the schemes.