Coal carriers hire advisers, get rolling on GTrain bids

United States-based Genesee & Wyoming has launched its plan to be long-term player in the Hunter Valley coal chain, kicking off talks with potential partners for Glencore's $1 billion coal haulage business (GTrain), according to the Australian Financial Review.

Glencore's adviser RBC Capital Markets launched the sale this week, calling for expressions of interest and releasing confidentiality agreements to be signed by interested parties ahead of formal sale documents.

China shuns collective effort to ease global steel glut

China declined to sign an international statement on actions needed to tackle the steel glut in a sign of the obstacles to balancing a market dominated by Chinese mills, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Representatives of the European Union, the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey issued a statement on steel-market overcapacity after meeting this week in Brussels. China, which is the world's No. 1 steel-producing country and took part in the April 18 gathering, isn't among the signatories, according to the European Commission, the 28-nation EU's executive arm.

Palmer had no intention of paying QNI debts, court told

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the joint venture partners of Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel had no intention of paying their debts including entitlements to sacked workers, a court in Brisbane was told on Wednesday.

As Palmer attempted to block administrators FTI Consulting from pursuing a money trail to his companies QNI Resources and QNI Metals, his nephew and former managing director of Queensland Nickel Clive Mensink was on the receiving end of a roasting from silk Walter Sofronoff.