Selenium contamination from a phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho is linked to fish deformities such as two-headed trout, and the problem would worsen if discharge limits were eased, a new government report found.

The findings come as Smoky Canyon Mine, run by the J.R. Simplot Company near the Wyoming border, is asking the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to relax restrictions on the amount of selenium that the mine may drain into tributaries of the Snake River, a world-class trout stream.

A gas explosion in a southwest China coal mine Friday killed 11 workers and injured six others, state press said in the latest accident to hit the nation’s dangerous mining industry.

One worker remained missing after the explosion ripped through the Diaoyutai coal mine in Sichuan province Friday afternoon, Xinhua news agency reported.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

Calls to the local government’s work safety administration, which oversees mining, went unanswered late Friday.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister of Higher Education Qazi Muhammad Asad distributed cheques worth Rs 100,00 to the families of the men who were killed a fortnight ago in a phosphate mine collapse in the village of Tarnawi.

Ranchi, Feb. 3: Jharkhand is likely to join hands with three private companies to develop as many coal blocks in Ramgarh and Bokaro districts, a move that is expected to shore up revenues and boost industry confidence in the state. Joint ventures, or JVs, are likely to be inked with Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), Adhunik Group and AMR Coastal Limited for mining and developing the coal blocks of Rabodh, Patratu and Pindra-Debipur allocated to Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) by the Centre between 2006 and 2008.

Heavy summer rains across eastern Australia prompted authorities to issue flood warnings for vast areas of Queensland and New South Wales states on Thursday, including coal mining areas in the Hunter Valley.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued the flood warnings with heavy rain expected over the next 24 hours, following saturating rains over the past week which have already swelled rivers in New South Wales and Queensland.

Early next month, the Obama administration will finalize important and long overdue rules for the management of 155 national forests covering nearly 200 million acres. The rules will guide individual forest managers as they decide which parts of the forest can safely be opened to logging, mining and recreation, and which parts must be set aside to protect wildlife and the health of the forest.

Heavy summer rains across eastern Australia prompted authorities to issue flood warnings for vast areas of Queensland and New South Wales states on Thursday, including coal mining areas in the Hunter Valley.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued the flood warnings with heavy rain expected over the next 24 hours, following saturating rains over the past week which have already swelled rivers in New South Wales and Queensland.

State governments need to “harmonise” regulations governing granite and stone quarrying, which would result in a regulatory system that was “transparent and fosters competition,” said Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, on Wednesday.

Speaking at the inaugural session of Stona 2012, the international granite and stone fair organised by the All-India Granites and Stone Association, Mr. Trivedi observed that the application of the Granite Conservation and Development Rules, 1999,

It was allowed to fire Chitrani plant using surplus coal from 4,000 mw Sasan UMPP. Anil Ambani’s Reliance group has urged the government not to review the decision to allow the use of surplus coal from mines attached to its Sasan project for other plants and said it was “deeply concerned” that the CAG had not consulted Reliance Power but reportedly made adverse comments about it.

The committee of secretaries, led by the prime minister’s principal secretary Pulok Chatterji, is understood to have recommended that state-run Coal India should step up supplies and face penalties if it fails to provide 80% of coal allocated to a power plant. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set up the committee last month after leading industrialists, including Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, sought his intervention to help the power sector.