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""NEMA thanks Representatives Ellmers and McNerney for their leadership in introducing HR 2244, and we appreciate the support from Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield for including it in their grid modernization discussion draft. This much-needed legislation would direct the Department of Energy to produce a plan to create a strategic transformer reserve program, an idea supported by NEMA and its members as a way to bolster the United States' capacity to respond quickly to the loss of one or multiple large power transformers," "

China's largest copper deposit Yulong copper mine in the Tibet Autonomous Region is to start copper cathode production end-September with its output expected to reach 1,800-2,000 mt in 2008, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. The first phase of the Yulong project is expected to be fully completed in 2010, which will reach a copper cathode output capacity of 30,000 mt/year. The mine in the long run aims to reach a copper output of 100,000 mt/year. Preliminary copper reserves estimated at Yulong copper mine is at above 6.5 million mt and its copper reserves in the long run could reach 10 million mt in the long run. The mine is the country's largest resources deposit and the second largest in Asia, the report said.

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea, Asia's third-largest base metal buyer, plans to boost its strategic aluminum and copper reserves by 46 percent and 23 percent respectively this year, in anticipation of higher prices and demand when the economy recovers.

The search is on for domestic reserves of key resources, such as iron ore and crude oil, to reduce dependence on imports, according to a government plan

MELBOURNE -(Dow Jones)- BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) said Tuesday it has boosted the total ore reserves at its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia state, although ore grades have fallen slightly.

Industrial, mining and property investors were still in a state of confusion over power utility Eskom's approach to new electricity connections, but the corporation promised on Tuesday that the issue would be clarified with the imminent release of a comprehensive policy, possibly by as early as next week. CEO Jacob Maroga - currently in Europe on a road show to expose potential investors to its R150-billion capital-raising plan - said last week that the utility had not yet determined just how much power could be allocated to new projects. However, he indicated that a needs analysis was under way in a bid to align its stretched supply profile to the new demand. Maroga also stressed that supply security could be markedly improved and space created for new connections if greater savings were achieved. In fact, he displayed a graph showing that Eskom's reserve margin, which was currently running at a paltry 6%, could rise to well above 10% by 2009 should its savings targets be met. "If we follow the 10% savings path, there will be space for new connections. But we need information from potential customers, which will tell us what is, in fact, possible," he said.

Led by an increase in motor vehicles, the output of U.S. factories rose 0.4% in July, the best gain in 10 months, the Federal Reserve reported Friday. Overall, industrial production at the nation's factories, mines and utilities increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2%, as expected, despite a 1.9% drop in output of utilities. See Economic Forecast. Output of mines increased 0.9% in July. June's industrial production was revised lower to a 0.4% increase. Industrial production has now risen two months in a row, after having fallen the previous four months.

South African steel producer Highveld Steel & Vanadium on Friday announced that the disposal of vertically integrated assets Vanchem and its 50% stake in South Africa Japan Vanadium (SAJV), to Swiss firm Duferco Investment Partners, would be effective from August 29. The producer said in a statement to shareholders, that it had received approval from the European competition authorities, the South African competition authorities and the South African Reserve Bank, as well as the consent of the other shareholders of SAJV. The Competition Tribunal earlier this month announced that it had approved the sale of the assets, which formed part of the European competition regulatory body's conditions of the 2007 Highveld Steel acquisition by Evraz.

The Ridgeway underground mine cave is located in the mineral-rich Cadia Valley province in central New South Wales. A gold and copper mine, it is 100% owned by Australia's Newcrest Mining, and is one of three operations owned by the company in the province. The others are Cadia East and Cadia Hill, the largest of the three. "The Ridgeway underground mine cave is located in the mineral-rich Cadia Valley province."Ridgeway is in the process of transitioning from the sub-level cave to a block cave beneath the existing mine. In 2007 the Newcrest board approved development of the Ridgeway Deeps block cave. It will be the first natural caving operation to be developed by Newcrest and will be the deepest block cave in Australia. The company says it is spending A$525m to develop it. The mineral resource at Ridgeway Deeps was re-estimated following a geological reinterpretation which yielded an increased resource of 20 million tons containing 0.5 million ounces of gold, and 0.05 million tons of copper. GEOLOGY AND RESERVES

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.

Dave O'Reilly, chief executive of Chevron, said the oil-rich countries that erected barriers to international oil companies amid the run-up in commodity prices were now seeking their expertise in managing the drastic fall. "They're back now looking for [our] investment,'' Mr O'Reilly told Chevron's annual analysts' meeting. The high prices had led countries such as Venezuela and Russia to raise barriers to the international oil companies, which have gone from control of 85 per cent of the world's oil reserves in 1970 to less than 10 per cent now. With prices on the rise, these countries did not feel they had to be as careful with their resources; some began managing their own oil and gas and failed to reinvest adequate profits to maintain production.

Purchases by China's State Reserve Bureau of aluminium, copper, nickel, tin and zinc have been made to increase stockpiles and support domestic industry. SRB purchases and Chinese merchant restocking have triggered a rally in copper prices, with China's imports during February and March hitting record highs of 329,000 tonnes and 375,000 tonnes respectively.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has endorsed a bill that repeals Chile's Copper Reserve Law, which requires the world's largest copper miner, state-owned Codelco to give 10% of its profits to the armed forces.