U.S. natural gas prices are closing out the year on an upward trend, which may lead to more coal use this winter. The Energy Information Administration expects in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook that the 2025 annual average price of natural gas paid by electric power plants to jump by 37% and the price paid by industrial sector customers to increase by 21% compared with the 2024 averages. EIA expects prices to continue to climb, all of which is good news for coal.
The Wall Street Journal has a piece on Arizona miners that are using sulfuric acid and bacteria to bring online the first new U.S. copper production in more than a decade. The technique uses microbes to strip copper from ores that are otherwise uneconomical to mine.
And the EU is unveiling its strategy to lessen China's influence over its supply chains. The strategy aims to de-risk and diversify the bloc's supply chains for key minerals with a funding initiative to support 25-30 strategic projects in the sector. Projects cover rare earths gallium, germanium and lithium, creating a European hub for critical materials that would pool company orders and build joint stockpiles for priority projects.
