ICVL eyes mines in Indonesia, Mozambique

International Coal Ventures, a consortium of PSUs including Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Coal India, is eyeing mines in Indonesia and Mozambique and has joined hands with Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) to prepare a feasibility report on the possible buyouts.

"International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) is collaborating with RITES for coal mines in Indonesia and Mozambique. The joint team will leave for Indonesia soon," SAIL Chairman C S Verma told reporters here.

According to the understanding, RITES will prepare the feasibility report on setting up necessary infrastructure for transporting coal mined by ICVL.

Verma is also heading ICVL, a special purpose vehicle set up in 2008 for scouting and acquiring coal assets abroad.

He did not elaborate on the reserves or the location of the mines in both the countries. Last month, Verma had said the special purpose vehicle is conducting due diligence on some mines based in the US.

ICVL is a consortium of SAIL, Coal India, NMDC, RINL and NTPC. It was formed for the purpose of scouting and acquiring coal mines abroad to bridge the domestic demand-supply gap which at present is at about 80 million tonnes.

Since its inception, it has not been able to acquire any overseas mines despite having a warchest in excess of Rs 10,000 crore. Recently, it lost out on acquiring a coal mine in Australia.

Meanwhile, RITES, which is expanding its footprint worldwide in the engineering and consultancy space, said the company is at present in Africa and is increasing its base in that continent. Asked if RITES can come out with an initial public offer (IPO) in the current financial year, Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahai said, "That will depend on what we are going to do in Mozambique and other African countries. The IPO was required for an activity in African nations and we may do it in proper time when, we are sure of the commercial return of our investments in those nations."