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Carbon capture and storage remains a nascent technology: no one has yet proved that an integrated process can work on a commercial scale. But the US, Canada, Australia, the European Union and others have pledged billions of dollars to back demonstration projects. This suggests commercial deployment could be possible around 2020.Even so, any transition to carbon-free generation will take decades. Low-carbon technologies are generally more expensive than fossil-fuel plants: some, such as offshore wind, are a lot more expensive. And with wind, power generation will not be constantly available. Britain, which is backing Europe's fastest expansion of wind power, is building into its plans for 2030 a huge margin of spare generation capacity which can be used when there is no wind.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — China's demand for iron ore, copper, coal and aluminum will increase dramatically during the next 15 years before India takes the lead in its need for those commodities, global miner Rio Tinto Ltd. predicted in its annual report released Tuesday.

Outotec has agreed with the First Quantum Minerals Limited Projects Office based in Perth, Australia, for the delivery of flotation, thickening and automation technologies for several of its operations around the world. The total value of the contracts exceeds EUR 20 million. These orders include the delivery of 14 units of Outotec TankCell® 300 and 54 smaller TankCell® units for nickel and copper concentrate production for the Kevitsa project, located in northern Finland. This flotation technology delivery complements the earlier agreed supply of Outotec® grinding mills for the same project.

Rio’s mine of the future in West Angelas, Western Australia, is its flagship mechanised operation. It includes automated trains and robotic drill rigs, all directed from an operations centre hundreds of miles away in Perth where employees “work like air traffic controllers”, according to the company.

The deal, OZ's largest 100% acquisition since it emerged from the wreckage of the merger between Oxiana Ltd. and Zinifex Ltd. after the global financial crisis, could more than double the company's resources of copper and gold and consolidate its land holdings in the Gawler Craton, a geological region of South Australia which also holds OZ's main Prominent Hill asset and BHP Billiton

In ROW, our strategy of introducing a broader product range into developing markets helped to offset the impact of lower-than-expected volume across a number of countries. The uneven demand experienced during the second quarter is largely episodic, as the fundamental growth drivers remain solid, and GDP rates for many emerging markets continue to outpace those in the developed world. Sequentially, our second quarter results reflect the impact of stronger demand in Venezuela, Brazil and Zambia. In Venezuela, the company benefited from higher spending on electrical infrastructure as the country works to reinforce a weak power grid. In Brazil, our results reflect the aerial transmission shipments and the introduction of specialty products as the country continues to industrialize while at the same time preparing for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. In Zambia, our results reflect the shipment of aerial transmission products as the government invests in expanding its power grid. In addition, we strengthened our market position and product range in Colombia, Peru, Australia, South Africa and Mexico. In Mexico, we recently qualified and supplied our first high-voltage cables. Our market penetration into Mexico continues ahead of expectation, and is supported by a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with high-voltage capabilities ranging up to 225 kilovolts and a comprehensive line of products for electric utilities and contractors. Overall, our results in ROW continue to demonstrate the non-linear nature of our business in the short-term, as construction, mining and utility products are moved between reporting periods, government appropriations are authorized and infrastructure investment plans are advanced.

In a joint statement, Xstrata Zinc Australia Chief Operating Officer Brian Hearne and Xstrata Copper North Queensland Chief Operating Officer Steve de Kruijff said the development of a large scale zinc-lead-copper pit has the potential to extend the life of the combined operations to beyond 2060.

Mr Sharrock says bonded internet connections are not yet available anywhere, but are "right on the edge" of becoming commercial. Customers would need a special broadband modem, capable of splitting and integrating transmissions over two lines. "The future is fibre," he says, but techniques to squeeze more out of copper lines would help the quarter of households that won't benefit from the Government's $1.5 billion ultrafast broadband initiative.