Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) reported that as a result of severe monsoonal rain in central and northern Queensland, force majeure has been declared on coal sales contracts from mines in which Rio Tinto Coal Australia has a majority interest.
The mines are Hail Creek, Kestrel, Blair Athol and Clermont in Queensland's Bowen Basin.
Anglo American (LON:AAL) reported further progress in relation to the Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil, including certainty around its long-term port tariff arrangements and clarity in relation to the port's capital funding.
Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) has signed a joint venture agreement with its partner, International Minerals Corporation to develop the Inmaculada project. Based on the terms of the agreement, Hochschild now holds a 60% interest in the Inmaculada property in southern Peru and becomes the operator.
Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) and two of its subsidiaries received notice on 23 December 2010 that an arbitration was commenced by Excalibur Ventures in New York on 17 December 2010 asserting certain contractual and non-contractual claims against the companies and claiming that Excalibur is entitled to an interest of up to 30% in the companies' blocks in Kurdistan.
"We believe we have very good grounds to vigorously challenge these claims in both the US and UK courts," said chairman and chief executive of Gulf Keystone Todd Kozel, adding that the company is confident in its ability to defend these claims in any legal jurisdiction.
Desire Petroleum (LON:DES) reported that the 25/5-1 well on the Dawn/Jacinta prospect has reached a depth of 1,313 metres.
Drilling and wireline logging data shows that no hydrocarbons have been found in the Jacinta Prospect. The well will now be drilled to the planned total depth around 1,670 metres to evaluate the deeper Dawn Prospect.
SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) announced that Moray Offshore Renewables has signed three Agreements for Lease with The Crown Estate. These agreements will advance offshore wind power generation developments at three specific sites in the outer Moray Firth.
MORL is a joint venture, owned 25% by SeaEnergy Renewables Limited and 75% by EDP Renewables. SERL is an 80% subsidiary of SeaEnergy.