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The coal ban reshaped energy markets and showed how Beijing’s efforts to use its economy as a foreign-policy tool can have limits. China effectively ended a ban on Australian coal that has been a centerpiece of a diplomatic dispute lasting more than two years, in the latest indication that Beijing is taking a less confrontational approach in its foreign policy as the economy struggles. Customs officials in the southern province of Guangdong on Thursday received notice from the local government that they can clear Australian coal shipments, two people familiar with the situation said. The move comes about a week after the country’s national planning agency permitted a group of large state-owned companies to buy Australian coal again. The Guangdong government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Fiji Deploys Military, Risking Tensions in Election Aftermath
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADELAIDE, Australia—Fiji mobilized its military after the party of longtime leader Frank Bainimarama failed to win a majority in an election this month, a move that risks inflaming tensions in a Pacific nation that the U.S. has courted to counter China’s inroads in the region. Mr. Bainimarama’s Fiji First party has yet to concede after the main opposition parties in Fiji, where there has been four military coups in the past 35 years, this week formed a coalition to oust the incumbent government.

☆ Prices on Lithium Deals Start to Move With the Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADELAIDE, Australia—The price of lithium is undergoing a minirevolution. Lithium is the battery mineral used in electric vehicles and electronic gadgets whose price surged to a record high this year. Many mining companies missed out, though, because they had previously agreed to sell production at a fixed value. Now, they are increasingly switching to deals that allow for prices to rise and fall according to changes in global supply and demand.

☆ BHP, World’s Top Miner, Nears Biggest Acquisition in a Decade
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BHP runs the large Olympic Dam copper mine in South Australia and predicts that demand for copper will double in the next three decades. ADELAIDE, Australia— BHP Group Ltd. raised its offer for OZ Minerals Ltd. to value the Australian miner at $6.34 billion, as it seeks to produce more copper and nickel needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar farms. OZ Minerals said it intends to recommend shareholders vote in favor of BHP’s revised offer of 28.25 Australian dollars, the equivalent of about $18.90, a share. A completed deal would represent BHP’s largest acquisition since 2011 when it bought Petrohawk Energy Corp. for more than $12 billion.

☆ Novak Djokovic Set for Australian Open Return After Visa Ban Overturned
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Novak Djokovic will be able to compete at next year’s Australian Open. ADELAIDE, Australia— Novak Djokovic will be granted a visa to Australia so that he can compete at the 2023 Australian Open, drawing a line under an episode that made the tennis star a lightning rod in a debate about Covid-19 vaccine mandates. Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has agreed to overturn a three-year ban that was imposed when authorities deported the 21-time Grand Slam champion on the eve of the tournament in January, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

☆ Iron-Ore Prices Buckle as China Property-Market Slump Drags On
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Autonomous trucks haul iron ore at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri mine in Western Australia, where vast mining operations contribute more than half the world’s exports of the steel ingredient. ADELAIDE, Australia—Iron-ore prices have slumped to a three-year low as a sharp slowdown in Chinese homebuilding combines with Beijing’s zero-Covid strategy to sap demand for the steelmaking commodity. The benchmark price of iron ore—one of the world’s most-traded commodities—fell by 17% in October from September to end the month more than 50% below its 2022 high, which was set in March.

☆ Coal Miner Peabody Energy in Deal Talks With Australian Rival Coronado
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Peabody’s pretax earnings in the second quarter were its highest in more than a decade. ADELAIDE, Australia— Peabody Energy is in talks to combine with an Australian rival that could result in a new global giant worth some $6 billion, illustrating how the coal-price surge that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is transforming the sector’s fortunes. Peabody, the largest American coal producer, is discussing a deal with Coronado Global Resources which has operations in the U.S. and Australia. In a regulatory filing with the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday, Coronado said negotiations were occurring.

☆ Australia Withdraws Threat of Gas-Export Curbs After Deal With Producers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ADELAIDE, Australia—Energy companies committed to direct more natural gas to Australian consumers when shortages flare, neutralizing a threat that the government would impose caps on exports to Asia and other major markets. Gas-export ventures operated by companies including Shell PLC and Santos have agreed to first offer uncontracted gas to local buyers before seeking overseas customers under a deal that Australia’s government said should avert a domestic supply crisis next year.

BusinessThe Russian steel magnate, who was sanctioned by the U.S., the European Union and the U.K. following the invasion of Ukraine, is exploring options to restructure ownership of his businesses to ease the burden of Western sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ To Store Renewable Energy, Some Look to Old Mines
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-25 | by ( Rhiannon Hoyle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Around the world, companies are seeking to repurpose old mines as renewable-energy generators using a century-old technology known as pumped-storage hydropower. The technology, already part of the energy mix in many countries, works like a giant battery, with water and gravity as the energy source. Water is pumped uphill to a reservoir when energy supply is plentiful. It is released and flows downhill through turbines generating hydroelectric power when electricity demand is high or there are shortages of other types of power. Finally, the water is captured to be pumped uphill again in a repeated cycle.

There’s a lot of hype and confusion about carbon-free energy sources. Here’s a look at five of them: how much they produce, what they cost, and what obstacles they face.

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