Global Coal Management Plc (formerly Asia Energy PLC)



Overview

GCM Resources plc (GCM) is a London-based resource exploration and development company. Its principal asset is its undeveloped coal deposit in the Phulbari region of Bangladesh, the development of which is awaiting approval from the Government of Bangladesh. It also has investments in other companies with mining interests. The company's shares are quoted on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). (Ticker code: GCM).

The Phulbari Coal Project is a substantial, world class coal resource that will support a long life, low cost mining operation. It is the only such deposit in Bangladesh that has been subjected to a full Feasibility Study and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment prepared to international standards. In partnership with the Bangladesh Government, civil society and the community, GCM is committed to developing the Phulbari Coal Project to the highest social and environmental standards. By doing this, GCM seeks to maximise the benefits of the Project for both the Company’s shareholders and the people of Bangladesh.

The Company (GCM) under its former name, Asia Energy PLC, was incorporated in England and Wales as a public limited company on 26 September 2003. Asia Energy PLC was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange on 19 April 2004. Through seed capital raising and the subsequent placement of shares, some £14 million was raised.

In November 2005, following submission to the Government of Bangladesh of the Phulbari Coal Project's Feasibility Study and Scheme of Development, the Company placed an additional 7 million shares and raised a further £33 million.

GCM actively reviews investment opportunities in order to broaden its global investment portfolio.

Coal Project facts

■ Energy security and diversity – The Project has a unique role to play in addressing the country’s electricity shortfall as its development will provide the basis for a step change in the country’s electricity generating capacity.
■Regional development – The Project will provide 17,000 jobs (direct and indirect). In addition the development of new industries using the industrial mineral co-products from the mine will create thousands of more jobs. The living conditions of all affected people will be improved and their livelihoods will be restored and in many cases improved. As a result of year round irrigation, improved water quality, improved inputs and improved farming practices it will be possible to produce three crops per year with higher yields than at present.
■Huge economic impact – Phulbari will contribute 1% to Bangladesh’s GDP each year and pay US$7.0 billion in taxes, royalties and service charges to the Government over the life of the Project. The replacement of high sulphur imported coals and other hydrocarbons will have a positive effect on balance of payments and air quality.

In partnership with the Bangladesh Government, civil society and the community, GCM is committed to developing the Phulbari Coal Project to the highest national and international social and environmental standards. By doing this, GCM seeks to maximise the benefits of the Project for both the company’s shareholders and the people of Bangladesh.

Background

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with some 162 million people living in an area two thirds the size of the United Kingdom or about the size of New York State. Less than one third of its population live in cities while the majority live in rural areas relying on a predominantly subsistence lifestyle. GDP per capita is around US$1,700 (ppp) per annum compared with a world average of US$10,500. Less than half the population have access to electricity. Bangladesh is a country of enormous potential. It has the eighth largest work force in the world and is included in the “Next Eleven” countries that, after the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), were identified by Goldman Sachs as having the potential to become the world’s largest economies in the 21st century. It has enjoyed more than 6% economic growth in real terms over the last five years as well as substantial improvements in measures of human development. For example, between 1980 and 2006 life expectancy has improved from 48 years to 63 years and literacy rates have improved from 29% to 53%.

Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world with a significant proportion of the population living in remote or ecologically fragile areas such as river islands or cyclone prone coastal areas. Two thirds of the country is less than five metres above sea level making it vulnerable to the predicted effects of climate change.

Although Bangladesh is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, it is not itself a significant emitter of carbon dioxide. Per capita carbon dioxide emissions (0.3t/capita) are substantially below other countries in the region (Pakistan 0.9t/capita, India 1.4t/capita, China 4.9t/capita) which themselves are substantially less than emissions from developed countries (UK 8.9t/capita, USA 18.9t/capita). Even with the addition of the 4,000MW of electricity capacity which Phulbari coal could support, Bangladesh would still be one of the lowest emitters of carbon dioxide in the world, substantially less per capita than its neighbouring countries.


http://www.gcmplc.com/

"

NO, will have a look !

slow day in the office !!! up 2% on No trades ?

OK !! nobody buy (or sell) for 50 more days please and we'll be 100% up, :-)

Its a funny game this Darradev, just look at fogl and a few what have had good news in the past week ?

Aye. Up, down, up down, down, down.

Need to work out this 'shorting' lark, at least you (possibly) can make money on the down, down, bit. :-)

one of them days !!!! gcm has always been a risky punt but the rewards could be big !!, but even the oil Co have had a rough day ??

rumour has it that gcm will get the licenceing permits..and they'll be announcing the news this week

Fingers crossed !! if that rumour is true then should see some action in the SP This week !!

Good start !

Dhaka needs to open up economy
WB country director tells Ficci meet
Star Business Report

Improving investment climate is not enough for Bangladesh to survive in the changed era of post-MFA, rather it needs to open up its economy, World Bank Country Director Xian Zhu observed.
"Bangladesh is now the most protectionist economy in South Asia, so opening up of economy would benefit it" he told the Ficci (Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry) luncheon meeting yesterday.

The WB official said in today's highly competitive post-MFA world, there is no option but to strengthen export competitiveness through phase-wise and transparent liberalisation of trade regime.

Prolonged high protection breeds inefficiency, inhibits competition, and stifles productivity growth, Zhu said, making a remark that such protection brings no good for export competitiveness or for economic growth over a long term.

Held at a city hotel, the Ficci meet was chaired by Rafi Omar, the chamber's acting president, and attended, among others, by Hua Du, country director of Asian Development Bank (ADB), and representatives of the foreign investors in Bangladesh.

Referring to a recent World Bank report, Zhu said to join the ranks of middle-income countries by 2016 or soon thereafter, Bangladesh requires raising GDP growth to an ambitious 7.5 percent or more.

And to achieve such a growth, the country should increase its investment rate by more than five percentage points to 30percent of GDP, against the current 25percent and also employ its resources (labour and capital) more productively, and the bulk has to come from private sector, including FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), he suggested.

The WB official also pointed to the need for improving Bangladesh's attractiveness to FDI.

Zhu said FDI has recently picked up in extractive industries like coal and gas, telecommunications and energy production raising FDI's share in GDP to about 1 percent, but not yet in manufacturing, where the potential for productivity gains is significant.

Citing another survey result of the World Bank he said that firms with any level of foreign ownership are 10 percent more productive on an average than firms that are wholly domestically owned.

Some have argued that Bangladesh should first respond to the demand of its own domestic market before thinking about opening up and relying on exports. The benefits of having a large domestic market are clear, but that should not detract from the tremendous opportunities that access to global market offers, he said.

To win the fight against poverty and reduce the number of poor people, Bangladesh must grow stronger and faster, Zhu said.

"The world is moving quickly; so are countries in the region and Bangladesh needs to move faster just to stay in the same place and to catch up. Concrete, coherent and immediate actions to improve the investment climate are urgently needed," he went on.

Up over 6% today, may be news soon ??

Tata to wait for coal policy to invest in BD


Tuesday July 31 2007 10:24:52 PM BDT


Kayes M Sohel

Indias Tata group will wait until finalisation of the governments coal policy about its 3-billion-dollar investment plan in Bangladesh. ( The BD today )

"The Board of Investment (BoI) has told us that the coal policy will be finalised by the end of this month and we are waiting for the coal policy," Manzer Hossain, country representative of Tata, told The Bangladesh Today on Wednesday.

Asked whether Tata will shelve its investment proposal or not against the backdrop of delay in the finaliztion of the coal policy, he said, "we will take decision after discussion with the BoI.

About Tatas investment prospect in Vietnam, Manzer said, "We are carrying out a feasibility study for investments in the southeast Asian country."

Tata is keen to invest in Bangladesh as the country has immense potential. "We are keen to invest in Bangladesh as it is an investment friendly country and we are awaiting the governments nod," Manzer said.

Sources said the BoI could not take further steps relating to the Tata investment proposal for lack of necessary guidelines and clear instructions from higher authorities.

The Indian business conglomerates investment proposal has been pending with the BoI over the last three years.

The previous government had promised to make a decision on the Tata plan by June, 2006. However, it then put the investment proposal on hold, saying the new government would decide on the matter after the next parliamentary elections.

Through its investment proposal, Tata has sought to install a steel manufacturing plant, a fertiliser factory, an open pit coalmine , a coal-fired power plant at the mine mouth and a captive power plant for its industrial units.

It also offered a 10 per cent of equity of each of its projects to the Bangladesh government.

Tata signed the expression of interest (EoI) with its initial investment plan for $ 2.0 billion with the BoI in October 2004. It later revised its investment proposal to $3.0 billion in April 2006.

Draft policy suggests equal use of coal for exports, power generation


Tuesday July 31 2007 00:44:07 AM BDT


AZM Anas


An advisory committee, formed by the present caretaker administration, will meet today (Tuesday) to review the latest coal policy.( The Financial Express)

The eight-member committee headed by Abdul Motin Patwari, a former vice chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), has been tasked with finalising the draft policy to the energy and mineral resources division .

"This will be the first meeting of the committee formed by the caretaker government to review the draft. The committee, however, passed its mandated timeline of July 21 for sending final recommendations to the energy division," a well-placed source said.

The draft policy, formulated by the energy division, will place top priority on ensuring the domestic energy security for at least 50 years and mainly rely on the public sector in coal-mine development.

"Excess coals exports may be allowed only after ensuring the energy security of the country for 50 years under the Coal Sector Master Plan," says the new version of the policy, sixth of its kind.

"The amount of coal exports should not exceed the use of minerals in the mandatory mine mouth power plants. The ratio of coal exports and coal use in power plants will be 1:1," adds the draft partially leaked to the FE.

The draft has also made it clear that national interest will be given the topmost priority while attracting foreign direct investments in the coal sector.

"The public sector will be given priority in the coal policy. However, the government can take decision in the coal mine development by the private sector to avert potential energy crisis and ensure energy security in future," the policy maintained.

The World Bank, in an analysis on the first draft, said the policy should allow coal exports from the outset and be made flexible enough to woo private investors in the development of coal mines.

Although the mining method remains the stickiest point in regulations, the draft policy does not provide any preferred method and gives the percentage of coal to be extracted from both open pit and underground mining.

In terms of open pit mining, the maximum coal recovery will be 1050 million tonnes accounting for 90 per cent and coal-fired power plants will be able to generate electricity upto 2033.

By contrast, only 20 per cent of coal can be recovered through underground mining, thereby meeting the electricity demand of the country upto 2022.

Given the energy security, the policy notes that private sector power generation must be encouraged as coal fired independent power producers (IPPs) to set up coal based power stations in the vicinity of coal mines.

"The IPPs will get similar treatment as per the Bangladesh Private Power Generation Policy (Amended) 2004," according to the policy.

As far as the government royalty is concerned, it suggested that a lessee pay the fees on a quarterly basis, either as cash or in the form of mineral itself.

The policy has set a number of targets to be chased between July 2007 and June 2010.

The formulation of a Coal Sector Master Plan, identification of coal zones and strengthening the public agencies such as the Geological Survey of Bangladesh and the Bureau of Mineral Resources are among the plans stipulated in the policy.

The immediate past BNP-led coalition government had initiated a move to frame the first ever coal policy and the revised it several times, but the issues of mining method, exports, royalty, environment and licensing regime stood in the way of its approval.

The present caretaker administration, in a circular issued on June 21, constituted an eight-member advisory committee to give recommendations on the draft coal policy after necessary examination and scrutiny.

The advisory committee was supposed to submit the final proposal to the energy division by July 21.

But it failed to comply with the deadline as set in the circular.

Bangladesh has an estimated 2221 million tonnes of proven coal reserves in five mines, including Barapukuria and Phulbari.

morning Smiler, looks like TATA are putting the squeeze on the decision makers.

Morning Darradev, looks that way, Not sure when we will get an RNS !! Could be soon , but I would like to think it would be within the next 2 months !! with LUCK ;)

Mining with a vision for people's benefit, ecological safety
Bangladesh can learn a lot from German open pit coal extraction
Sharier Khan, back from Cologne, Germany

There is a lot that Bangladesh can learn from German experience in maximum utilisation of coal resources through maintaining environmental balance, efficiently handling human displacements, agricultural land replacement and maintaining political soundness.

With a tradition of more than 100 years of open pit coal mining, Germany produces 33,000 megawatt or one third of its power from lignite coal and another 25,000 megawatt from hard coal ensuring minimum damage to the environment, thanks to strict monitoring by the government and pressure groups.

A visit to the mines and coal-fired power plants in the North Rhine Westfalia zone around the German city of Cologne demonstrates that mining is just not a profit making business for a company, rather it is a national affair.

Mining in Germany is based on sensible politics and a vision to ensure benefit for its people and entrepreneurs, and minimise environmental hazards. A mining company cannot just do whatever it wishes but when it has a government nod, its mining plan cannot be hindered.

The Daily Star correspondent visited the mines and coal power plant installations near Cologne at the invitation of Asia Energy Bangladesh between July 25 and 28. The Daily Star covered the travel and hotel costs of its correspondent while Asia Energy that has stakes in the Phulbari Coal Mine facilitated the visit in collaboration with Germany's biggest mining and power company RWE.

Also one of the top European power and gas companies, RWE is a consultant company for Asia Energy for handling Phulbari project's most sensitive area-- water table.

Germany's vast "lignite" coal mines are mainly located in agricultural lands and villages near Cologne, and therefore, the home-grown mining companies work with the government and communities to ensure fair resettlement and compensation, according to executives of Germany's leading coal mine and power developer RWE GmbH.

From the fifties, about 50,000 people have been resettled to facilitate large scale open-pit mining. Of them, 10 per cent resisted resettlement. But relevant German laws demand that individuals must give up their lands for the greater benefit of the nation. Therefore, they lost legal battles and had to settle with their compensation.

The vast open-cast mining areas, where miners have completed mining and filled up 300 to 400 metre voids with soil, have now been converted into deep forests and agricultural lands.

The country annually produces 100,000 million tonnes of 'lignite' coal. Some of its open-cast mines can be as big as 20 square kilometers. The country still has a reserve of 50 billion tonnes of lignite, of which 10 billion tonnes can be commercially mined.

With an annual turnover of Euro 6574 million, RWE is 18,467-strong and it alone produces 11,000 megawatt power from lignite coal. It also generates power from hard coal, nuclear fuels, gas and renewables. In addition to Germany, RWE also sells power to UK and central and east European countries.

*****************
Dhaka, Tuesday August 7 2007

Asia Energy wants to apply German open pit methodology in Phulbari coal mine project

COLOGNE (Germany), Aug 6 (UNB): Asia Energy (Bangladesh) Corporation Ltd. wants to apply the same open pit methodology in its Phulbari coal mine project that was applied by Germany's RWE at a coal mine in Cologne.

RWE is one of Germany's largest energy and power company now producing 15 million tons of coal per year from its Hambach mine in Cologne and also generating 10,000 MW of power from its coal-fired plants.

The energy giant produces 30 per cent of total electricity of Germany and 20 per cent of brown coal.

The German company has been extracting coal from its Hambach mine in Cologne for the last more than 100 years with an annual production capacity of 40 million tonnes. The RWE is producing 1,30,000 tonnes per day.

The RWE has set a unique example in relocating and resettling the local habitants and also in protecting the environment.

Gary N Lye of Asia Energy told a group of Bangladeshi journalists visiting the RWE coal mine in Germany that his company planned to apply similar methodology in developing the Phulbari coal mine in Bangladesh.

Asia Energy submitted a development scheme after its feasibility study in Phulbari coal mine area, where it determined the mine's coal reserve to be 572 million tons. But the Bangladesh government is yet to approve the plan. The Asia Energy will produce 15 million tons per year.

The RWE developed a forest at its reclaimed area just alongside its coal mine.
The German company has to dig 350 metre deep into the ground to extract the coal through its gigantic Bucket-Wheel Excavators.

The coal will also be brought to an adjoining 2400-MW power plant direct from the mine through a huge conveyer belt.

Dr. Thomas Von, RWE's head of Geology and Hydrology, while briefing about the Hambach mine, told reporters that they had to relocate more than 30,000 people from the mine areas who had also been rehabilitated in other areas of their own choice.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=7071


: ))

Smiler, are you watching ! :-)

You never know, we may be on our way !!

Bangladesh: Coal Policy Mellow Drama [ Print ]
Coal


By- Khondkar Abdus Saleque

Bangladesh has substantial reserve of high quality bituminous coal. It has comparatively high heating value and low ash content which makes it very much suitable for use as steam coal. It has been considered as the best alternative for our overstressed natural gas in predominantly mono fuel based energy scenario. Bangladesh imports very poor quality Indian coal now which is mostly used in the brick fields. The only producing coal mine at Barapukuria has turned into a white elephant. It can not even support the mine mouth power plant. The fate of other major mining prospect at Phulbari is hanging in a delicate balance. The wrong myth and adverse propaganda of a vested quarter has stalled the open pit surface mining initiative of British Company AEC.

Amidst apprehension of known gas reserve to run out in a decade or so the exploration of coal has become a top priority national agenda. But Bangladesh is still struggling to find an appropriate strategy for it. Bangladesh at this moment does not have required capacity to explore or manage the exploration of coal on its own. No qualified mining professional is active in the public sector. Our record of mining is also very pathetic. The Barapukuria coal mine is a disaster. The wrong designs, inappropriate method of extraction, weak management have caused us to waste huge amount of money. A privileged syndicate however got flattened. But policy makers are not ready to realize that we do not have any capacity to undertake any type of mining on our own. Energy Secretary in a workshop reportedly stated that he himself although not a line professional yet he has learnt a lot about mining visiting some coal mines in different countries. He promised that the coal policy would be finalized by July 2007

Energy reporters of different Bangladeshi dailies are writing their eye witness account of open pit coal mining in Cologne, Germany. They have visited surface mining of Lignite coal and have witnessed how coal is being mined in the most safe and environment friendly way, how the surface and subsurface water management are being done. They have witnessed with their own eyes how the mine area recovers it original shape and in most instant much better shape after mining. Hope this may help neutralize the myths and mis-propaganda of a section of certain section of our civil society who are unnecessarily agitating against surface mining.

The visit has been arranged by Asia Energy Corporation which has mining contract with Bangladesh Government for Phulbari Coal Mine at Dinajpoor. After very extensive feasibility studies AEC submitted development plan for the mine sometime in late 2005.They proposed for surface mining and provided all techno economic justification, rehabilitation and resettlement plan, water management and other issues related to the mining. They got approval of environment directorate. They were due to get the government approval by early 2006. But following their submission a group of Bangladeshi civil society comprising of University teachers, left leaning politicians and economists started agitating against the AEC and open pit mining. Neither government nor AEC tried to clarify issues at the beginning and let the sentiment grow. The weak and self seeking government of the day also did not take proper action in time. Rather a very level headed energy advisor through his statements helped to add fuel to the fire. Reportedly some important persons given responsibility to examine the AEC surface mining proposal while visiting site instigated local people telling them about adverse impact of mining .The people of Phulbari were told they will not only loose their property and assets , they will not be getting adequate compensation, they will not be rehabilitated their income will not be generated. They were also told open pit mining will make the entire western region a desert and agricultural lands will be destroyed. But after visiting the open pit mine in Germany and seeing for themselves the mining method, water management and relocation & rehabilitation of affected people whatever the Journalists are writing is not supporting the propaganda our so called patriotic civil society propagated so long. So, all the myths are unfounded against open pit mining methods. We always told these and tried to express the same in various write ups. But the weak and motivated Government did not listen. The so called academia having no practical experience was more important. Their agitation caused bloodshed in Phulbari and some innocent people lost their lives.

The energy reporters can now say whether the surface mining method is safe or not.

If the mining method is technically safe and environmentally acceptable the mining method must not have any problem to accept as it will ensure 85-90% of the coal recovery. If rehabilitation and relocation are proper then the local affected people have no worries to get evicted and getting rootless. If the coal can be effectively used for power generation then it will create energy security. We have high quality Bituminous coal having higher heating value and low ash content. The mine the Bangladeshi Journalists visited has lignite coal which is much inferior.

Some of the journalists have written about royalty issues. Royalty is one of the hotly debated issues of AEC contract The Contract has 6% royalty, which the agitators term very low. If Bangladesh starts getting coal from the mines the coal will be only exported after meeting the domestic demand. Bangladesh will straight away get 6% royalty. Then there is other taxes and levies. AEC will set up 1000 MW mine mouth coal fired plants which will consume substantial amount of coal. If during the tenure of mining Bangladesh Government and private companies set up power plants and other industries they can access this coal. So as far as utilization we find no problem. If export of coal helps our evening out trade balance with some countries where is the problem? But the question of export may arise if and when the domestic market can not consume. This provision can be made in the coal policy. AEC will definitely not produce at abnormally high rate to jeopardize its operation. Still as the royalty is a hotly debated issue Government may renegotiate the same with AEC to make them agree at a reasonably higher rate. But then who will account for cost increase of mining due to 2years delay in handling the approval issues.

Well the author is an energy professional and willing learner. The author has now have opportunity to live in an Australian coal mining area and interact regularly with highly experienced coal miners. Some of my neighbors at Flinders Village in Ipswich are highly experienced miners. They discuss various aspects of mining when we enjoy Rugby and footy in the recreation centre on week ends. May discuss the draft coal policy with my neighbors and may come up with another write up soon.

It may be recalled that IIFC prepared a Draft coal policy for EMRD and submitted on December 1, 2005. Almost all known coal experts of Bangladesh was involved in the committee and it was a good basic document which was more or less realistic.EMRD, Petrobangla, BMD,GSB, discussed the draft the revised draft was floated on website for opinion. On February 8, 2006 very interactive workshop of the stakeholders created opportunity to make a very lively document for further processing. But unfortunately a very level headed energy advisor killed the prospective document. The document did not include any of the recommendations of the workshop due to the stubborn attitude of the energy advisor. After the vetting of Law ministry the document was sent for PMs approval. PM office returned the document seeking further clarification on comparative royalty rate, export provision of different coal producing countries etc.After clarification the document was sent again to PMO on June 26, 2006. This time PMO sent it to Dr. Nurul Islam, Head of the Department of Appropriate Technology BUET, a Chemical Engineer for opinion and comments. The gentleman is one of the favorite teachers of the author. He is a staunch believer that Bangladesh has capacity to explore and exploit all energy resources on its own. So he discourages FDI and induction of international companies for the work.. So his comments possibly took away all the incentives that IIFC draft policy and the stakeholders proposed for encouraging the investment possibility of private sector developers. Some people believe some of his comments earlier agitated the people of Phulbari to rise against AEC as he thought the open pit mining method would bring disaster to the country.

Sir, please take it easy. I learned lessons from you so I dare to politely disagree with your concepts which are wrong for many reasons. Bangladesh has no capacity for coal mining of its own at all. Bangladesh will never have a substantial market to absorb coal from even a single active economic size coal mine. Coal very soon will be discouraged for power generation as the plants for controlling Carbon emission will become very costly. So if Bangladesh at all desires to mine its coal it has to be by the reputed coal mining companies. The surface mining method is much safer in our geology of poor roof support and existence of strong aquifer above and below coal seams. We must now agree that the underground mining at Barapukuria was inappropriate. The only way to retrieve situation there is to suspend the mining and start it all over again in surface mining method.

Bangladesh can earn significant revenue through exporting apart of the coal and use the revenue for investment in petroleum sector development, energy from renewable and setting up of Nuclear power plant. But the limit of royalty, production rate, strict environmental control, relocation and rehabilitation issues of affected people their income regeneration should attain priority attention. The so called massive impact on surface and surface water system from surface mining is a myth. We are now building recycled water pipeline in Ipswich, Queensland through old open pit coal mines which left no visible impact on the environment.

Here rather the impact of Coal Fired Power plants due to GHG emission is more pronounced. The massive drought is largely attributed to the coal plants. So even if we explore our coal eventually the opportunity of coal fired power plants to dominate our case is very remote as serious carbon emission control will make coal plants very expensive soon. Use of coal in brick fields and other places will not create a domestic market. But we can get attractive price of coal in international market. Countries like Sri Lanka, India and China have ready market for our high quality coal.

We heard a committee headed by an additional secretary of EMRD made some recommendations which among others includes,

government sector should get preference in coal sector development, coal sale should be in local currency and no incentives for private investors for risk investments in exploration and mining will be offered other than existing rules and regulations for other industries. It has also eliminated the provision of arbitration.

If these are true and if the coal policy is approved like that it can be guaranteed that the coal of Bangladesh shall remain underground for ever. Bangladesh will keep on importing the poor quality Indian coal till eternity. Bangladesh will take 10-15 years to grow experienced mining professionals to meaningfully manage mines and will possibly never attain capacity to mine ourselves. Possibly no investor will risk its capital here to sale coal in taka only. It is unethical in international contract not to include arbitration clause. So in a way it is to say we will not allow any reputed mining company to come for mining here. We will sit on it until someone can allure some unworthy company from somewhere to come here to destroy our resources we may do that. No sensible patriotic citizen can let it happen.

We now heard that the government has let out the draft report on website for seeking opinion from interested persons. Well policy is a guideline. Individual contracts are to be made depending on specific geological conditions and detailed techno-economic feasibility studies. Only qualified and experienced mining professionals can provide useful input to Coal policy. So letting out the draft policy on the website may not bring desired result.

DR. Nafis Ahmed, a celebrated Bangladeshi Chemical Engineer did his PHD on Mining Technology from London School of Mines. He is highly regarded as a mining specialist. He is now working as consultant of UNICEF and is now based in Jakarta where his wife Farzana Ahmed is working in ADB. Nafis was Dean of Chemical Engineering Newcastle University, NSW and Australia. His wife Farjana, a chartered accountant herself worked in BHP while in Australia. Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury as well as Chief Advisor Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is well aware of the competence and integrity of Nafis Farzana couple. Please send the document for their comments or the Government may even use Nafis and Farjana as consultants. Nafis can come up with appropriate recommendation as he had some works done on similar cases. He is more than willing to help his country of origin. Mahmudur Rahman had option to involve him as all three of us were intimate friends when we studied Chemical Engineering in BUET. Perhaps Mahmud thought he by virtue of his position knew more than Nafis.
Anyway if the coal policy gets the approval in its present shape it will be ridiculous and we will be made laughing stocks to the coal community.
We like to see a workable coal policy soon. We want to see the commencement of mining. Some theoreticians will always continue giving theories but the professionals and policy makers should not bother for those. Hope that the mellow drama of coal policy will have its curtain drawn at the earliest.