Jindal subsidiaries get coal blocks in Mozambique for exploration

Jindal Poly Films, part of the Rs 3,000-crore B C Jindal Group, today said its subsidiary, Jindal Resources (Mozambique) Ltd, had been awarded a coal block for prospecting and exploration.

“The company has been allotted Block-2 in Moatize district of Tete province,” the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The licence for exploring the block covers an area of 1,480 hectares, estimated to possess reserves of around 150 million tonnes. The block is situated near the Moatize rail head, connected to Beira port by a railway.

The company also said another subsidiary, Jindal Metal and Mining, had entered into a joint venture agreement with a Mozambique-based company for prospecting, exploration and mining of coal. This block is estimated to contain thermal coal reserves of around 300 million tonnes. Many Indian companies active in the power and steel sectors have shown interest in acquiring coal assets abroad. Mozambique, South Africa, Australia and Indonesia have emerged as favourite hunting grounds.

Coal India Ltd, largest domestic producer of the dry fuel, was awarded two blocks with estimated reserves of a billion tonnes in Mozambique last year.

Gurgaon-based Lanco Infratech had last month agreed to acquire Australia’s Griffin Coal Mining Company and Carpenter Mine Management Pvt Ltd, owned by Collie-based Griffin Coal. The mines house overall reserves of around 1.1 billion tonnes. In a similar acquisition, India’s largest coal importer, Adani Enterprises, had bought the Australian coal asset of Link Energy in a deal worth over Rs 12,500 crore in August last year.

The Essar Group, through its subsidiary, Essar Minerals, had acquired America’s Trinity Coal from private equity firm Denham Capital for Rs 2,750 crore last year. Trinity Coal has reserves of around 200 million tonnes.