Yancoal disputes WA Treasurer's coal merger suggestion

Yancoal Australia has hit back at West Australian Treasurer Mike Nahan's calls for the Chinese-backed coal miner to merge with a neighbouring producer in the state's south, according to the Australian Financial Review.

As part of an electricity reform package announced last week, Nahan said falling coal demand would put further pressure on the state's coal producers.

ASX-listed Yancoal manages the Premier Coal mine in the West Australian town of Collie on behalf of its majority shareholder China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Company.

Premier's operations are located adjacent to the Griffin Coal business, Western Australia's only other coal producer, which is owned by India's Lanco Infratech.

Peabody Energy could succumb to Chapter 11

Peabody Energy is destined to become a test case for who gets left high-and-dry in the aftermath of a foreign-controlled corporate collapse, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Should it succumb to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US as early as this week, the ramifications here for the coal sector; for workers, creditors, local communities and mine rehabilitation are immense, yet impossible to determine with any precision.

Clean-up legislation aimed at Palmer could have 'unintended consequences'

Legislation aimed at ensuring Clive Palmer does not walk away from any environmental clean-ups at his Townsville refinery have created tension between the state government and the mining and resource sector, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The chain of responsibility legislation, introduced by Queensland Environment Minister Steven Miles last month in the wake of the Yabulu nickel refinery drama, aim to ensure resource companies are forced to pay for any environmental clean ups, if their business goes bust.