Coal news and updates

More coal from North Korean port to be shipped South

A second shipment of Russian coal will be sent from the DPRK’s Rajin port to Pohang in South Korea no later than early May, a report from Arirang news agency said on March 6.

The coal deliveries are part of a trial trilateral economic initiative called the Rajin-Khasan project. The first trial run occurred in November last year and saw 40,000 tons of Russian coal loaded onto a Chinese ship at Rajin, in the DPRK’s far north-east.

Once in reaches Pohang, delivery of the coal will likely be taken by POSCO, one of the world’s largest steel makers based near the port. Both POSCO and South Korean Ministry of Unification confirmed the shipment was in the works, but were still unsure of when it exactly it would be greenlit.

“The government is negotiating the terms and detailed procedure with the companies that are or will be responsible for this,” POSCO’s public relations department told NK News.

“Following the first trial shipment (November 2014) of Russian coal, South Korean and Russian steelmakers are planning for a second trial shipment soon … The second shipment is conducted to check if necessary improvements have been made from the first trial run,” a spokesperson from Ministry of Unification said.

According to Arirang, the second coal delivery will be twice the size of the first, and will require two ships to transport.

The coal will also reportedly be brought from a different Russian mine, closer to Khasan. It will then be transported along a 54 km stretch of rail that links the Russian city to the DPRK’s Rason area.

Russia helped finance the construction of the rail link, and also bankrolled upgrades to Rajin port, which included adding machinery to help with handling coal.

The news will likely be welcomed by North Korea, who currently face falling export revenues and problems caused by new Chinese environmental legislation.

Last week a shipment of North Korean coal was turned away from a Chinese port on the grounds it contained too much mercury.

Coal, specifically anthracite, is North Korea’s most valuable export. Shipments to China had been earning North Korea more than $1 billion year since exports picked up in the latter stages of the last decade.

source: http://www.nknews.org