2025-07-08 20:53

July 8 (Reuters) - The Trump administration said it permitted a proposed coal mine in Claiborne County, Tennessee on Tuesday under an expedited process aimed at accelerating federal environmental reviews of energy projects. In a statement, the Department of the Interior said it granted approval for Hurricane Creek Mining LLC to mine coal on Bryson Mountain in Claiborne County, Tennessee. The mine will produce up to 1.8 million tons of coal over the next decade, the agency said. The site was previously mined at various times between the 1950s and 2010. Sign up here. The rushed permit is aligned with President Donald Trump's goal to increase coal mining as part of his energy dominance agenda. The project is on private land but under federal law must be permitted by Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Hurricane Creek Mining could not immediately be reached for comment. In April, Interior said it would implement an emergency permitting process for energy and mining projects, slashing approval times that typically take months or years to 28 days. The department took another action this week to support coal. Interior's Bureau of Land Management on Monday said it is taking public comment on opening up coal leasing on public lands in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. Comments will be taken through August 7 on opening up lands that former President Joe Biden put off-limits to leasing. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-issues-expedited-permit-proposed-tennessee-coal-mine-2025-07-08/

2025-07-08 20:40

TOKYO, July 9 (Reuters) - Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda said she was keeping a close eye on possible second-round effects on underlying inflation from recent rises in the price of rice, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. In an interview conducted on Monday, Koeda said it was inappropriate to predict now how soon the BOJ could resume interest rate hikes due to uncertainty over the economic outlook, Bloomberg reported. Sign up here. "Recent hard data on inflation shows prices of rice and other food items are rising more than expected compared with the time of the BOJ's May meeting, so I am watching developments carefully," Koeda was quoted as saying. Such cost-push pressures from higher food costs are the main drivers of Japan's consumer inflation, which is moving around 3% recently, she said. The BOJ's weighted median average, which is a key measurement of underlying inflation, remains short of the central bank's 2% target, Koeda was quoted as saying. But Koeda added she was "keeping an eye out" on how price moves in Japan's staple rice could affect households' inflation expectations and underlying inflation, Bloomberg reported. https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/bojs-koeda-says-shes-keeping-an-eye-second-round-effects-rice-prices-bloomberg-2025-07-08/

2025-07-08 20:40

Commerce chief Lutnick: probe into US copper imports complete Chile, Canada and Mexico are top US copper suppliers US Comex copper futures jump 12%, hit record high WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said he will announce a 50% tariff on copper on Tuesday, hoping to boost U.S. production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods. U.S. Comex copper futures jumped more than 12% to a record high after Trump announced the planned tariffs, which came earlier than the industry had expected, and the rate was steeper. Sign up here. Trump told reporters at a White House cabinet meeting that he planned to make the copper tariff announcement later in the day but he did not say when the tariff would take effect. "I believe the tariff on copper, we're going to make 50%," Trump said. After Trump spoke, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on CNBC that the copper tariffs would likely be put in place by the end of July or August 1. He said Trump would post details on his Truth Social media account sometime on Tuesday. Trump had yet to formally announce the tariffs by Wednesday evening and several countries, mining companies and trade groups said they were awaiting firm details. Analysts with RBC Capital Markets said they expect short-term volatility in copper prices and shares of copper companies should the tariff be implemented. In February, the administration announced a so-called Section 232 investigation into U.S. imports of the red metal. The deadline for the investigation to conclude was November, but Lutnick said the review was already complete. "The idea is to bring copper home, bring copper production home, bring the ability to make copper, which is key to the industrial sector, back home to America," Lutnick said. The National Mining Association declined to comment, saying it preferred to wait until details were released. The American Critical Minerals Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Copper is used in construction, transportation, electronics and many other industries. The U.S. imports roughly half of its copper needs each year and only has three copper smelters. Major copper mining projects across the U.S. have faced strong opposition in recent years due to a variety of reasons, including Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) , opens new tab, (RIO.L) , opens new tab and BHP's (BHP.AX) , opens new tab Resolution Copper project in Arizona and Northern Dynasty Minerals' (NDM.TO) , opens new tab Pebble Mine project in Alaska. Shares of the world's largest copper producer, Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan (FCX.N) , opens new tab, shot up more than 5% at one point in Tuesday trading. The company, which produced 1.26 billion pounds (571,530 metric tonnes) of copper in the U.S. last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Freeport, which would benefit from U.S. copper tariffs but worries that the duties would hurt the global economy, has advised Trump to focus on boosting U.S. copper production. Countries set to be most affected by any new U.S. copper tariff would be Chile, Canada and Mexico, which were the top suppliers to the U.S. of refined copper, copper alloys and copper products in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Chile, Canada and Peru - three of the largest copper suppliers to the U.S. - have told the administration that imports from their countries do not threaten U.S. interests and should not face tariffs. All three have free trade deals with the U.S. Mexico's Economy Ministry and Canada's Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Chile's Foreign Ministry said it had not received any formal communication about the tariffs. Chile's Mining Ministry declined to comment. Chairman Maximo Pacheco of Codelco, the country's top copper miner, told Reuters the company wanted to know which copper products would be included and if the tariff would hit all countries. Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of Canada, said the tariff is concerning for copper smelters such as Glencore's (GLEN.L) , opens new tab Horne facility in Quebec. Gratton added he was waiting for the 232 report from Trump officials. A 50% tariff on copper imports would hit U.S. companies that use the metal because the country is years away from meeting its needs, said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. "The U.S. has imported a whole year of demand over the past six months, so the local storage levels are ample," Hansen said. "I see a correction in copper prices following the initial jump." https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-says-he-will-impose-50-tariff-copper-imports-tuesday-2025-07-08/

2025-07-08 20:35

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - Fermi, a Texas company looking to build four nuclear plants next to a U.S. nuclear weapons complex, said in documents revealed on Tuesday that it is talking with large data managers on leasing agreements for the project. Fermi, co-founded by Rick Perry, a former U.S. energy secretary, wants to build four AP1000 reactors at a facility it is calling a "hypergrid." The up to 11 gigawatt (GW) facility in Amarillo powered by nuclear, natural gas, and renewable energy, is planned near the Department of Energy's Pantex nuclear weapons plant and in partnership with Texas Tech University. Sign up here. Fermi said in its application at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which the regulator made public on Tuesday, that it is engaging in talks with many Big Tech companies, known as "hyperscalers," on letters of intent and term sheets, or preliminary documents that are usually non-binding. The application said that the hyperscalers would be tenants, apparently meaning they would not own part of the plants. Fermi did not immediately answer questions about financial arrangements being discussed with Big Tech companies or which or how many hyperscalers it is in talks with. The last two reactors built in the U.S. were AP1000, completed in Vogtle, Georgia. They cost a total of more than $30 billion, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Those plants were delayed by years and came in billions of dollars above projected costs. But nuclear backers say lessons learned should cut construction time and final costs of the next AP1000 reactors. Fermi said in the application that the nuclear complex, which it calls the Donald J. Trump Generating Plant, will be eligible for financing from the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office. The only time the president tapped the LPO in his first term was for the Vogtle plants. The company said other plans to finance construction and operation include equity capital contributions from institutional infrastructure and real estate investors, structured bond offerings, and clean energy tax credits. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/texas-project-build-four-nuclear-plants-is-talks-with-hyperscalers-2025-07-08/

2025-07-08 19:39

BEIJING, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he planned to announce a 50% tariff on copper imports later in the day, surprising a global industry whose output is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer goods. Trump in February had ordered a probe into possible copper tariffs, with a November deadline, as part of efforts to rebuild U.S. production of the metal. Sign up here. It was unclear whether the investigation - which was intended to evaluate imports of raw mined copper, copper concentrates, copper alloy, scrap copper and derivative products - has now concluded. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday the duties would likely be put in place by the end of July or August 1. Here is what you need to know about U.S. copper imports: US IMPORTS The United States produces domestically just over half the refined copper it consumes each year. More than two-thirds of that is mined in Arizona, where the development of a massive new mine has been stalled for more than a decade. The remaining refined copper, just shy of 1 million metric tons annually, is imported. While the White House framed the new tariffs as a way to counter China's dominance of the global market, the United States in fact imports most of its refined copper from the Americas. Chile, Canada and Peru accounted for more than 90% of refined copper imports last year, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). GLOBAL PRODUCTION China dominates global copper refining, but most of the ore that feeds into its smelters is mined elsewhere, in particular in Latin America. Chile and Peru together mined roughly a third of global copper last year, according to the USGS. However, China is expanding its control over world copper mining through its major investments in mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is now the world's second-largest copper miner after overtaking Peru, due in large part to massive Chinese investment in the African country's mining sector. The Chinese copper smelting sector dwarfs all others. The country had dozens of copper smelters operating last year. Meanwhile, the United States has only two primary copper smelters, according to the USGS. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/where-does-us-get-its-copper-2025-07-08/

2025-07-08 19:20

At least 109 fatalities tallied, many of them children More than 180 people listed as known to be missing Emergency officials face angry questions over preparedness KERRVILLE, Texas, July 8 (Reuters) - The death toll from the July Fourth flash flood that ravaged a swath of central Texas Hill Country rose on Tuesday to at least 109, many of them children, as search teams pressed on through mounds of mud-encrusted debris looking for scores of people still missing. According to figures released by Governor Gregg Abbott late Tuesday afternoon, authorities were searching for more than 180 people who remain unaccounted for, four days after one of the deadliest U.S. flood events in decades. Sign up here. The bulk of fatalities and the search for additional victims were concentrated in Kerr County and the county seat of Kerrville, a town of 25,000 residents transformed into a disaster zone when torrential rains struck the region early last Friday, flooding the Guadalupe River basin. The bodies of 94 flood victims, about a third of them children, have been recovered in Kerr County alone as of Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a late-afternoon news conference after touring the area by air. The Kerr County dead include 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe near the town of Hunt. The camp director also perished. Five girls and a camp counselor were still unaccounted for on Tuesday, Abbott said, along with another child not associated with the camp. As of Tuesday, 15 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across a swath of Texas Hill Country known as "flash flood alley," the governor said, bringing the overall tally of lives lost to 109. Reports from local sheriffs' and media have put the number of flood deaths outside Kerr County at 22. But authorities have said they were bracing for the death toll to climb as flood waters recede and the search for more victims gains momentum. Law enforcement agencies have compiled a list of 161 people "known to be missing" in Kerr County alone, Abbott said. The roster was checked against those who might be out of touch with loved ones or neighbors because they were away on vacation or out of town, according to the governor. 'FIND EVERY SINGLE PERSON' He said another 12 people were missing elsewhere across the flood zone as a whole, a sprawling area northwest of San Antonio. "We need to find every single person who is missing. That’s job number one," Abbott said. On Tuesday, San Antonio-born country singer Pat Green disclosed on social media that his younger brother, John, his wife, Julia, and two of their children were among those "swept away in the Kerrville flood." Hindered by intermittent thunderstorms and showers, rescue teams from federal agencies, neighboring states and Mexico have joined local efforts to search for missing victims, though hopes of finding more survivors faded as time passed. The last victim found alive in Kerr County was on Friday. "The work is extremely treacherous, time-consuming," Lieutenant Colonel Ben Baker of the Texas Game Wardens said at a press conference. "It's dirty work. The water is still there." More than a foot of rain fell in the region in less than an hour before dawn last Friday, sending a wall of water cascading down the Guadalupe that killed dozens of people and left mangled piles of debris, uprooted trees and overturned vehicles. Local, state and federal emergency officials have faced days of questions about whether they could have alerted people in flood-prone areas sooner. POINTING FINGERS State emergency management officials had warned last Thursday, on the eve of the disaster, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of flash floods based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice has said the outcome was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours, leaving too little time to conduct a precautionary mass evacuation without the risk of placing more people in harm's way. Scientists have said extreme flood events are growing more common as climate change creates warmer, wetter weather patterns in Texas and other parts of the country. At an earlier news briefing on Tuesday, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha rebuffed questions about the county's emergency management operations and preparedness and declined to say who in the county was ultimately in charge of monitoring weather alerts and issuing a flood warning or evacuation orders. He said his office first started receiving emergency 911 calls between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Friday, several hours after the local National Weather Service station issued a flash-flood alert. "We're in the process of trying to put (together) a timeline," Leitha said. Abbott said a special session of the Texas legislature would be called in about two weeks to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief. Asked at the press conference who he thought was to blame for the disaster, Abbot replied, "That's a word choice of losers," adding, "The way winners talk is not to point fingers. They talk about solutions." On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick vowed that the state would pay for installing a flash-flood siren warning system in Kerrville by next summer if local governments "can't afford it." https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/texas-floods-death-toll-creeps-up-search-rescue-continues-2025-07-08/