Jan 24 (Reuters) – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc said
it would write down the value of Consolidated Thompson Iron
Mines Ltd by $1 billion as it expects lower volumes and higher
costs in the business bought for more than $4 billion two years
ago.

Rival miners Rio Tinto Plc and Vale SA
have recorded billion-dollar charges over the past two months on
weak demand for commodities such as iron ore, coal and aluminum,
and analysts expect BHP Billiton Plc and Anglo American
Plc to follow.

Dec 27 (Reuters) – Hanwha SolarOne Co Ltd said Bank
of Beijing Co Ltd will provide it with a credit line
of about $475 million, in yet another instance of Chinese banks
helping local solar companies survive a steep fall in prices.

Hanwha SolarOne’s total long-term debt of 2.76 billion yuan
($442.3 million) is already more than five times its market
value, and the company, like many of its China-based rivals, has
reported losses for the last six quarters.

Dec 20 (Reuters) – A new generation of land-based oil and
gas rigs is halving drilling time and cutting costs for
customers, but also setting a clear divide for investors between
firms that have the new machines and those stuck with hundreds
of old ones.

About two-thirds of the 1,750 active land rigs in the United
States are legacy diesel-powered units. The rest are the newer
machines that have alternate current (AC) motors.

By Swetha Gopinath and Krishna N Das

(Reuters) – China has added a further $1.1 billion in subsidies to its solar power sector, more than doubling its support this year, Xinhua reported on Wednesday, sending shares of Chinese solar power companies up sharply in U.S. trading.

Shares of Trina Solar Ltd (TSL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co (YGE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) surged more than 20 percent in morning trading, while those of JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd (JASO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were up 14 percent. Shares of JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd (JKS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd (STP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) rose about 10 percent.

Oct 31 (Reuters) – GT Advanced Technologies, a
solar and LED equipment maker, said it would slash about 25
percent of its workforce and would l i kely report third-quarter
revenue at the low end of its forecast due to weak demand in its
main market, Asia.

Shares of GT, which makes machines used to manufacture solar
and LED equipment, fell more than a fifth to $4.03 on the
Nasdaq, their lowest in more than five months.

By Krishna N Das and Sunayan Bhattacharjee

(Reuters) – Cleaning services company Ecolab Inc (ECL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will buy privately held oilfield specialty chemicals maker Champion Technologies Inc for about $2.2 billion to tap into rising demand for products used in oil and natural gas drilling and help to make up for under-investment in North America.

The acquisition will help Ecolab accelerate expansion of its energy services business, which makes products used to prevent corrosion in oilfield equipment and treat water for oil drillers and refiners at a time when oil output from North American shale fields is growing quickly.

By Krishna N Das and Swetha Gopinath

(Reuters) – Chinese solar companies are being forced to speed up plans to move a big chunk of their manufacturing offshore as Europe looks increasingly likely to join the United States in implementing duties on imports of Chinese-made solar equipment.

The timing could not be worse for the Chinese firms, whose balance sheets are already being strained by nearly two years of weak prices and slowing demand for solar energy products.

June 14 (Reuters) – Heavily indebted JA Solar Holdings Co
Ltd, which has lost nearly a third of its market value
this year, said it could buy back up to $100 million of its
shares before the end of September, sending the stock up 25
percent.

Other China-based solar companies such as LDK Solar Co
, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co and ReneSola Ltd
have also been buying back shares amid a brutal selloff
in the equities market.

April 10 (Reuters) – Solar panels prices have kept marching
lower this year, extending steep declines seen in 2011 and
keeping pressure on hard-hit manufacturers who have struggled to
eke out profits, industry experts said.

Average selling prices for the photovoltaic modules that
turn sunlight into electricity have dropped to 80 to 85 cents
per watt, a decline of more than 10 percent from levels near 95
cents recorded at the end of 2011, a year that saw prices fall
by about 50 percent.

Feb 29 (Reuters) – Dry bulk transporters, already hit
by an oversupply of ships, could be forced to operate their
vessels below breakeven for a much longer period than feared as
top iron ore consumer China looks to cut down on imports.

China’s iron ore imports may fall up to 14 percent this year
as domestic output ramps up, a mining industry group said on
Wednesday. The country buys about 60 percent of the world’s
seaborne iron ore.