Maoists kill six villagers in Chhattisgarh

Rajnandgaon / Dantewada, May 16 (ANI): In yet another incident of brutality on civilians the Maoists killed six innocent villagers by slitting their throats in Chhattisgarh”s Rajnandgaon District on Sunday.

According to Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwa Ranjan, the Maoists dumped bodies of victims in a forest area in Manpur locality in Uchapur village of Rajnandgaon District.

Police said that all bodies were found with their throats slit.

Rajnandgaon is over 175 kilometers from Raipur bordering Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra.

The victims included a village sarpanch (head) Bhilsai Mandwai (36), who was abducted early this week along with five others by a Maoists group suspecting then to be police informers.

The incident has created panic among residents of Rajnandgaon.

Security forces were finding it difficult to reach the spot, as it is in a densely forested pocket between Uchapur-Taregaon area.

The security forces suspect that the Maoists might be waiting with a booby trap to ambush security personnel.

In July 2009, the Maoists had lured a police convoy to a booby trap in the same area in which 29 policemen, including district superintendent of police B K Choubey, were killed.

In a separate incident in Dantewada District of the state two Maoists have been killed in an encounter with security forces.

The encounter took place in Kirandul area of the District.

According to Dantewada Superintendent of Police Amresh Mishra, police have recovered two 12-bore guns, a few tiffin carrier bombs and posters containing statements against public sector National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) Ltd.

The NMDC has massive iron ore mining facilities at Bailadila hills of Kirandul and Bacheli areas of the District.

Chhattisgarh has witnessed a spurt in Maoist violence in recent months.

On April 6, the Maoists carried out the biggest ever attack on security forces in any peacetime operations killing 75 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Dantewada District.

This was followed by another attack on May 8 in Bijapur District in which eight CRPF personnel were killed when their vehicle was blown up by the Maoists using IEDs. (AN)

REFILE-NMDC, Coal India in coal JV talks – report

NEW DELHI, May 5 (Reuters) – India’s largest iron ore miner, NMDC Ltd (NMDC.BO), is in talks to form a coal mining joint venture with state-owned Coal India Ltd, the Financial Express reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed NMDC official as saying Coal India, the world largest coal miner that is planning an initial public offer, had written to the government for an in-principal approval for allocation of a coal block.

Further talks on the joint venture will be after the approval comes through for the coal block in West Bengal state in eastern India, the paper said.

An official at Coal India said he could not immediately comment on the report. (Reporting by Ruchira Singh)

Maoists damage railway track in Chhattisgarh

Batkanta (Chhattisgarh), Apr 20 (ANI): Suspected Maoist rebels damaged a portion of a railway track near Chhattisgarh”s Jagdalpur District on Monday.

This sabotage led to the to the derailment of a goods train ferrying iron ore with a couple of box wagons turned turtle at Batkanta village, around 39 kilometres off Jagdalpur.
The train was carrying iron ore to Visakhapatnam from the Kirandul iron ore mines in Bastar district.

The Central Government owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), which is the country”s largest public sector iron ore producer and exporter manages these mines.

The Maoists had reportedly removed around 32 pendel clips from the track, leading to derailment of the train.

Railway authorities say that an investigation into the matter would be conducted.
“The pendel clips were removed and kept in a heap at a particular place that shows somebody has tampered with it but then we have to investigate into the entire thing in detail and find out how it has happened,” said T Kamila, Railway Traffic Manager, Jagdalpur.

The rebels have damaged railway tracks on the same route in the past to protest the supply of iron ores to other cities and for industries sans proper compensation or job opportunities for the local youth, mostly from the tribal communities.

In the biggest attack of its kind, Maoists in Chhattisgarh ambushed at least 76 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on April 6.

The Maoist rebels have ignored calls from the Government to renounce violence and negotiate. Instead, they have stepped up their attacks in recent months, prompting the government to go after them in a concerted strike.

Maoist rebels, had on February 22, offered a conditional 72-day ceasefire through the media, and said they were willing to talk to the government if it aborts Operation Green Hunt.

The Maoists contend they are fighting for the rights of the poor, marginal farmers and the landless labourers. (ANI)

Panna Diamond Mine in Madhya Pradesh reopens after four years

Panna (Madhya Pradesh), Aug 21(ANI): Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday rededicated the Panna Diamond Mine of the National Mineral Development Corporation (NDMC) in Madhya Pradesh.

The mine had remained closed for about four years for environmental reasons.

Speaking in Panna after reopening the mine, Singh said the project was not only crucial for the NMDC and Madhya Pradesh, but also prestigious for the country as it is the only mechanized diamond mine in Asia.

Singh also informed that the production capacity of the mine is one lakh carats per annum.

“With the reopening of the Panna mine, we will be able to meet at least part of the domestic demand of diamonds,” he said.

“NMDC is exploring for diamond reserves in Chattarpur District and coal deposits in Shahdole and Umaria Districts. It is in the process of acquiring mining lease for development of coal blocks,” he added.

Singh further said that NMDC is making efforts to locate alternate diamond resources in the vicinity of Panna.

The minister also thanked the Madhya Pradesh Government for extending unflinching support for the reopening of the diamond mine.

“With the re-opening of the mine, the economic activity in the Panna region will pick up and Panna township and surrounding areas will one again come alive as a centre of economic activity,” said Minister of State for Steel A. Sai Prathap.

“It will also generate both direct and indirect employment for the local population. The local business, which was adversely affected due to shifting of NMDC’s workforce in the Diamond mine will also prosper,” he added.

He also hoped that the reopening of the mine will give a strong impetus to the economic activity of the entire region. (ANI)

Research and Markets: Name, Website, Stock Code, Main Business, Revenue and Profit in Past 5 of the Global Top 500 Companies Report for Mining and Metal – 2008-2009 Edition

DUBLIN–(Business Wire)–
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b0c6d9/global_top_500_rep) has
announced the addition of the “Global Top 500 Report of Mining and Metal,
2008-2009″ report to their offering.

This top 500 report is based over 1,000 mining companies (excluding coal,
petroleum and natural gas) and metal companies (excluding metalworks) are listed
over 50 stock exchanges in the world, by downloading their latest annual reports
and financial reports, and according to the indices such as the turnover, net
profit and total assets.

With the increasingly processing of industrialization and urbanization, China’s
demand for mineral resource remained strong. China has accelerated its move of
oversea acquisitions and enhanced its mineral resource reserves since 2009. For
example, Aluminium Corporation of China Limited plans to invest CNY19.5 billion
over Rio Tinto, the tender offer from China Minmetals Corp over Oz Minerals with
a sum of US $1.7 billion, and the Loan-for-Oil agreements with Brazil and
Russia.

In addition, the large steel corporations like Wisco, Nonfemet, Angang, and
Shougang have also accelerated their move of oversea mineral resource
acquisition. The iron ore producer of NMDC and the zinc producer of BINANI from
India are also planning their oversea acquisitions.

This report firstly gives the full picture of the turnover, net profit and total
assets, of global top 500 mining and metal companies in FY 2007, considering
some companies have not issued their FY 2008 annual reports yet, the 2008 data
will be released in a few months.

Followed by the description of mining industry and investment in different
continents, and recommend 23 countries rich in mineral resources, and deserving
to invest.

Then the profile of global top 500 including the company name, website, stock
code, main business, revenue and profit in past five years.

Finally, the series gives an in-depth analysis of global top 120 including their
financial results, operations and products besides company profile.

Notes:

1 The rank was by turnover in FY2007.

2 All the local currencies are converted into US dollar according to the
exchange rate in Jan, 2008.

Key Topics Covered:
1 Global Top 500 Mining and Metal Companies
2 Australia
3 Asia
4 Europe
5 Africa
6 America
7 Overview of Global Top 500 Mining and Metal Companies
8 Analysis of Global Top 120 Mining and Metal Companies

For more information visit

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b0c6d9/global_top_500_rep

Research and Markets
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Senior Manager
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