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Hewlett-Packard said on Monday it plans to buy Colubris Networks, furthering the consolidation of wireless networking companies. Financial terms were not disclosed. HP said the deal should close by the end of fiscal 2008, which occurs in October. Colubris, founded in 2000 and based in Waltham, Massachusetts, sells wireless access infrastructure products based around the 802.11n wireless standard, which can match or best the speeds of a plugged-in broadband connection. But the upgrade to 802.11n poses many issues for it to work efficiently. Colubris has centered many of its products around the predicted upgrade of those networks over the next few years. Colubris also sells wireless security and network management products. HP said products from Colubris will be incorporated into its ProCurve Networking portfolio, which will improve HP's ability to serve the health-care, transportation, manufacturing and education markets, among others. In June, Belden said it would buy WLAN vendor Trapeze Networks for US$133 million

South African smelting technology developer Tenova Pyromet is increasing its presence around the globe through a growing number of large projects and the continual development and improvement of its technologies. Formerly known as Pyromet, Tenova Pyromet is now part of the multinational Tenova group of industrial companies, with which Tenova Pyromet has the advantage of being closely networked. When Italian holding company Tenova bought Pyromet in September 2006, the company changed its name and acquired the benefit of having Tenova stand surety for the company's credit line. This allowed for growth within Tenova Pyromet at a rate previously unexperienced by the company, owing to the unfreezing of large sums of financial resources.

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Copper prices slid to six-month lows on Monday as a strengthening dollar triggered a sell-off ina market already worrying about weak demand from top consumers China and the United States. Copper for delivery in three months MCU3 hit $7,315 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, the lowest since early February, before closing at $7,330 down from Friday's $7,410. "The correction that we are seeing is really a reflection ofthe slowdown of the global economy," said Ashok Shah, chief investment officer at London & Capital. He said weakness in industrial production would continue to weigh on metals as demand was seen slowing and as more investors unwound long positions. "I would expect some more speculative money to be exiting."

Thin-film solar company Nanosolar has been sitting on a big secret for much of this year, it turns out: The company took a $300 million financing this March, and has remained mum ever since, only detailing it on the company's blog this morning after VentureWire reported the funding. While Nanosolar hasn't been entirely secretive about its technology, with chief executive Martin Rosencheisen showing off a rapid manufacturing technique early in summer, but apparently it didn't want details leaking on this giant-sized investment until necessary. Word slipped out in April about $50 million of the total, but at the time, Nanosolar didn't want to talk - and it's now clear why. The race for funds, and ever-larger production targets, is definitely on for thin film. Secretive thin-film silicon company Optisolar has raised over $200 million this year, and Nanosolar's thin-film CIGS competitor Miasole is trying to close on a similar amount. And while dozens of other startups are also on the hunt, large companies like Oerlikon Solar and Applied Materials are pouring money into ventures of their own. In many ways, it looks like an overheated sector. But on the other hand, Optisolar's recent deal with PG&E to provide 550 megawatts of electricity suggests that the potential for thin film panels is larger than previously expected, even when considering one analyst firm's prediction earlier this year that the sector will grow at 45 percent annually. That figure could now be much higher, especially for a few big winners - of which Nanosolar will likely be one. The company will be doing some utility-scale projects of its own, Rosencheisen tells us, with experienced partners. It also has a panel built specifically for use by utilities. And one of the backers of this funding, AES Corp., is also one of the world's biggest power companies. At the moment, Nanosolar is still working toward a gigawatt of annual manufacturing capacity, but it will grow be

Now we are seeing the mirror image of the up cycle, and mines are closing, new projects are being halted and even really good exploration targets and development projects are not being followed up purely through lack of availability of funds. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what this is building up to as the world economy picks up, as it undoubtedly will. Once demand returns to the market there will not be the supply available to meet it and prices will inevitably soar again. This will happen. The only uncertainty is the timescale.

Wisconsin regulatory officials, utility companies and environmentalists agree that more line capacity is needed to transport electricity generated by the growing number of wind farms. But they're not sure ITC's plan for giant-sized lines is the answer. Michael Vickerman, executive director of the Madison environmental group, Renew Wisconsin, said he has "reservations" about the need for 765-kilovolt lines. Smaller transmission upgrades can accommodate new wind generation, he said. Wisconsin Public Service Commission Chairman Eric Callisto also has questions. "I don't want to close any doors to what they have proposed but I have lots of grave concerns about the cost," he said. ITC is proposing "very large lines" that would require "very large right-of-ways," Callisto said. A right-of-way is the legal permission to use a property owner's land or the area above it.

Superior Essex has announced it is to close its magnet wire plant in Chauny, France at a cost of €12 million ($18.8 million). The plant, which dates back to 1922, was bought by Superior last year and operates under the company's Essex SAS subsidiary. The closure of the plant will bring production capacity in line with demand the company said. Just under $16 million of the charges related to the closure is for employee severance costs with the rest for equipment relocation and disposal. A review of the plant began three months ago before the sale of Superior Essex to LS Cable was agreed. Meanwhile LS Cable said its first half operating profit increased by over 50% with the Middle East and China leading global demand through the development of utilities and phone lines to meet power needs and internet usage. The chief executive of LS Cable, Christopher Koo, said orders from the Middle East are likely to increase by 80% this year to $450 million. Mr Koo said he expects global cable demand to increase by 4% a year to 2011, with China increasing by 8% annually.

India has shipped close to 85 million mobile handsets between April 2007 and March 2008, compared to under 66 million units shipped in the previous fiscal, registering an year-on-year growth of around 29 per cent.

TORONTO, July 8 /CNW/ - TEAL Exploration & Mining Incorporated (TSX-"TL") (JSE-"TEL") ("TEAL") has announced the discovery of extensive copper mineralization in the greater Kasonta area adjacent to TEAL's Lupoto Copper Project, which forms part of TEAL's 60%-owned Kasonta-Lupoto Mines sprl ("Kalumines") mining licence area, situated close to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC").

The Financial Times is delighted to be running our 2008 seasonal appeal, launched this week in support of WaterAid, which helps some of the world's poorest people get access to safe water and sanitation.\n\nIn recent weeks, FT reporters and photographers have taken a close look at WaterAid's operations on the ground in some of the least developed parts of Africa and Asia. They will report on the many aspects of its work over the next month in both the Weekend FT and the weekday paper.

The road to grid parity for PV power generation will be difficult, needing five or more years to compete with utility power, unsubsidized, on a large scale, noted Mark Thirsk, managing partner at Linx Consulting, at a recent SEMI PV forecast luncheon (Sept. 18) in Santa Clara, CA Most input materials for PV production are in relative oversupply and will not constrain production, Thirsk pointed out - and for this reason manufacturers are conservative about capacity investment. In particular, his PV module production forecast (see Fig. 1, above) shows an overstep in demand in 2008. One reason for suppliers' reluctance to build capacity for entering the silicon supply chain is that it is an inefficient process. "Only about 15% of all the silicon going into the supply chain goes into the wafers, so it's a pretty wasteful and capital intensive process, so there is a lot of reluctance to build capacity," said Thirsk. Despite the efficiency challenges, Thirsk's forecast indicates that an oversupply may occur in 2009 Because >40% of PV grade silicon is lost at the wafering step, Thirsk believes this represents a significant opportunity for the right technology. Additionally, diamond wire is a potential replacement for slurry technology, but this technology is still immature. In the crystalline silicon (c-Si) value chain, Thirsk sees opportunities for optimizing mono-crystalline wafers with metal wrap technology and backside contacts; process optimization and material improvements would improve cell efficiency, and glass, wafer, backsheet, and grid improvements can enable more efficient light capture. Looking ahead, Thirsk told the audience that while thin-film technologies will enjoy strong growth "and may be more attractive to value-add materials and equipment suppliers, thin-film cell production will remain a minority share for the medium term." (see Fig. 3, below) He closed his presentation encouraging the creation of a Moore's Law type of roadmap for the PV

China's copper consumption will rise in 2009 but growth will slow from 2008, Li Yihuang, president of Jiangxi Copper group, said on Thursday. "I feel this year's copper consumption growth should very closely track the country's gross domestic product growth," Li told reporters in Beijing.

Rea Magnet Wire has announced that it will lay off the 75 staff employed at its Las Cruces plant located in the West Mesa Industrial Park and suspend production. This is expected to take place by February 2009, however, it depends on the work commitments of the plant. The company produces copper, aluminium and brass insulated magnet wire and bare wire, supplying motor, transformer and coil manufacturers. Rea's workforce in North America exceeds 1,000 staff. The decision to close the plant is attributed to weakening demand for magnet wire in the US. As a result of poor market conditions, the company cannot continue to operate at limited capacity. Rea Magnet reported that the decision is not permanent and it hopes to reopen the plant as long as the market circumstances permit so.

Intraday copper three-month prices on the LME rose by 4.1% to US$ 2,940 per tonne on December 29th compared to the closing price on December 24th, affected by higher oil prices and the weaker US dollar. Increases in oil prices are correlated with increases in copper prices since investors see oil as a barometer for the entire commodity class. Then, the weaker US dollar makes metals cheaper for holders of other currencies. However, analysts remain pessimistic about the red metal due to plunging demand as the ongoing economic slowdown will continue to take its toll on the demand for copper.

KITZ Corporation has announced that it will integrate its two brass bar manufacturing subsidiaries with effect from July 1st. According to the plan, KITZ Metal Works will take over Kyoto Brass and brass bar production will be integrated at the Nagano plant, Japan owned by KITZ Metal Works. As a result, Kyoto Brass' plant in Kyoto, Japan will be closed. The decision is attributed to the global economic downturn that has been taking place since autumn 2008. Total brass bar output of the two plants in January amounted to 3,000t, down by 40% y-o-y. The company anticipates that demand will not recover in the short run.

One of the biggest renewable energy manufacturers in Britain announced on Tuesday it is to cut more than half its UK jobs - blaming the government for failing to support the sector. In a grave blow to the government's ambitions to create a "green" export industry, Vestas, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, will axe about 600 of its 1,100 UK employees, probably closing its factory in the Isle of Wight and cutting jobs elsewhere in the UK.

The units in Jammu are becoming unviable and unless immediate steps are not taken, 150 such units, which were providing employment to over 10,000 people, may be closed down, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), J&K, Chairman Sanjay Puri told reporters here.

Solar power will not be able to compete with conventional energy until there is a breakthrough in the technology, BP's chief executive has said, in a further sign of the company's move away from renewables towards oil and gas. BP has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in making solar cells and components, but in the past six months it has been closing factories around the world, and announced a sharp cut in its investment in alternative energies, such as solar, from $1.4bn last year to $1bn (£658m) this year. Tony Hayward, chief executive, yesterday told a conference in California: "I think solar is probably the most challenged of all of BP's alternative energy interests." He added: "It is not going to make the transition to be competitive with more conventional power, the gap is too big."

It was announced that Sumitomo Electrical Wiring Systems will close its New Model Development Centre by April 2011. The facility is based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, engaging in the development of wire harnesses and electrical components for the automotive industry. Some local operations will move to Marysville, Ohio and Lexington to be closer to end-users. In addition, some production operations will migrate to Mexico. The decision of the company will result in some 100 job losses.

"addressing bottlenecks in the energy, mining and power sectors; * increasing investment to help close India's major infrastructure gaps; "