Anglo American entered into a conditional agreement with a consortium, composed of Korea Electric Power Corp., POSCO and CockatooCoal Ltd., to sell its interests in five undeveloped coal assets in Australia for A$580 million ($500 million) in cash.

Cliffs Natural Resources has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the coal operations of privately owned INR Energy for $757 million. INR produces high-volatile metallurgical and thermal coal. The transaction is expected to close by the beginning of September.

“When combined with our current coal production in West Virginia, Alabama and Queensland, Australia, Cliffs estimates 2011 global equity production capacity of approximately 9 million tons at a split of approximately 7 million tons met and 2 million tons thermal,” said Joseph A.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China coal output grew 28.1% year-on-year to more than 751 million metric tons (mt) in the first quarter. Xinhua Online reported the increase indicates China has built up a large coal production capacity after a rapid growth in fixed asset investment for coal.

Rescuers were still trying to locate the remains of two miners as they recovered 28 bodies from the state-run Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises’ Karadon mine, near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak. The mid-May explosion buried the miners approximately 600 m underground. The cause of what will be one of Turkey’s deadliest mining accidents in recent years is still under investigation.

More than 2,000 gathered for a memorial service in Beckley, West Virginia, for the miners who perished in the worst U.S. mining accident in 40 years. The remains of the four missing miners from Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine were located early Tuesday morning on April 13, 2010, bringing the total fatalities to 29. The miners were killed in an explosion that occurred at shift change during the afternoon of April 5. Massey Energy’s UBB mine is a longwall operation located in southern West Virginia near the community of Montcoal.