With metal reserves getting depleted, scientists were looking at ways to enhance their production using bio-technology which was environment friendly, cost effective and energy efficient, Dr Natarajan said adding copper, uranium, coal, zinc, nickel and cobalt can be produced using the technology. India consumption of gold was 800 tonnes per year of which only two tonnes were being produced in the country, he said. Biotechnology would also take care of abandoned mines by preventing them from causing environmental pollution, he said.

China discovers oilfield in Xinjiang
China has announced the discovering of a big oilfield capable of producing one million tonnes of oil annually in the Junggar basin in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in North-West of the country. By the end of October, 10 exploratory wells had pumped oil and another 20 wells are being drilled, Xinhua news agency quoted officials at the Xinjiang oilfield corporation.

The corporation discovered the oilfield in a 5,000 sq km oil pool in the heart of the Junggar basin. Geologists found an oilfield with an annual capacity of one million tonnes in the early 1990s, but have not made any significant discoveries there since then.

Japan's new coffee recipes
Japanese coffee makers are coming up with recipes they hope will make the country's ubiquitous 24-hour vending machines as popular as cafes for a high-quality caffeine hit. The reason, they say, is that the traditional market for cheap, canned coffee is reaching maturity, while painfully high cafe prices have left a gap in a market where recession-weary consumers are on the look-out for bargains. A quality cup of freshly brewed coffee in a central Tokyo cafe can cost $10. Cans from a vending machine, with a choice of warm or cold coffee, usually sell at just over $1.

Tea output, exports down in September
India's tea exports came down by 0.05 mkg to 21.81 mkg in September this year from 21.86 mkg last year even as production dipped by 1.18 mkg.

Production during the month came down to 102.05 mkg during the month compared to 103.23 mkg during September 1999, a Tea Board official said.

Cumulative exports between Jan- Sept, registered an increase of 4.05 mkg, standing at 138.92 mkg (134.87mkg). The main reason for decline in exports was disturbances in dispatches due to floods in WB.

`ASPAT 2000' from November 14
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the India Trade Promotion Organisation are jointly organising the week long Asia Pacific millennium fair `ASPAT 2000' in the Capital's Pragati Maidan starting November 14. The foucs of the fair would be on technology as a key to development with the thrust on three product areas including agrotech, IT and health care such as medical and lab equipment, drugs and pharma.

GM corn keeps iowa grain inspectors busy
Iowa grain authorities has been on the alert ever since grain inspectors have discovered an unapproved gene-altered corn in the food chain more than a month ago. A steady stream of corn not approved for human consumption has been flowing into their testing facility on the fringe of one of the largest corn processing plants in the US-owned by agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. "We have been picking up eight to 10 trucks a day this week with StarLink contaminated corn," an official said. The buzz at the inspection facility highlights the fear that has gripped the grain and food industries since Philip Morris Cos' Kraft Foods unit voluntarily recalled Taco Bell-brand taco shells from store shelves in late September after they were discovered to contain StarLink corn.

Loss of tillable land causes concern
Expressing grave concern at the gradual reduction in land for agricultural use in the country and in other parts of the world, the Soil Conservation Society of India (SCSI) in collaboration with the Union ministry of rural development has decided to hold a five-day global conference on landresource management in the Capital beginning from November 9, said SCSI president S Subramaniyan. Addressing a press conference on eve of the global conference, Mr Subramaniyan said said that in India the per capita availability of land has reduced to 0.15 hectare in current time from 0.48 hectare in 1952 and 0.2 hectare in 1981. He cautioned that if this trend is allowed to continue, the growth in agricultural production and food security is likely to be at stake.