Month: August 2021

Soaring demand for the world’s least-liked commodity sees thermal coal prices jump 106% this year

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LONDON — Soaring electricity demand, infrastructure woes and a surge in global gas prices have triggered an extraordinary rally for the world’s least liked commodity. Australian thermal coal at Newcastle Port, the benchmark for the vast Asian market, has climbed 106% this year to more than $166 per metric ton, according to the latest weekly assessment by commodity price provider Argus. The Newcastle weekly index, which stood at a 2020 low of $46.18 in early September, now appears to be closing in on an all-time high of $195.20 from July…

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Can Afghanistan’s trillion-dollar mineral wealth power the global drive for EVs?

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This week the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan for the second time in two decades giving it access to the country’s vast mineral deposits worth trillions of dollars, which are in high demand by countries such as China and essential for the production of electric vehicles amid a global pivot to clean energy. But can this wealth transform the country and help with the global pivot to clean energy? War-scarred Afghanistan’s valuable resources remain largely untapped, due to decades of conflict and corruption and any international ventures to extract Afghanistan’s mineral wealth…

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Factbox: What are Afghanistan’s untapped minerals and resources?

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Returning to power in Afghanistan after a 20-year absence, the Taliban have regained control of natural resources that a former mines minister of the country once said could be worth up to $3 trillion. That estimate was made toward the end of the last commodities supercycle in 2010 and could be worth even more now, after a global economic recovery from the coronavirus shock sent prices for everything from copper to lithium soaring this year. Afghanistan is rich in resources like copper, gold, oil, natural gas, uranium, bauxite, coal, iron…

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Pakistan Army pays tribute to Rashid Minhas on martyrdom anniversary

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The Pakistan Army has paid tribute to Rashid Minhas — Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot officer who embraced martyrdom at the age of 20 during the 1971 war — on his 50th martyrdom anniversary. Minhas was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider for his bravery and became the youngest PAF officer to receive the highest valour award. “On 50th Martyrdom anniversary, we remember with reverence, bravery & supreme sacrifice of National Hero Pilot officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed, Nishan-e–Haider,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a tweet late Thursday. In the line of…

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ENVIRONMENT: DANCE OF THE FLAMINGOES

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My birding friend, Ahmer Ali Rizvi had been working on a documentary on flamingoes and I was excited to contribute content for it however possible. So when we found out from our birder friends that a flock of flamingoes had landed on our coastal belt, near Karachi, it couldn’t have been better timed for us to get more footage. Since the best time to shoot images is just after sunrise and before 9am — as after that the light becomes harsh — it wasn’t dawn yet when we set off…

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