NMDC may acquire stake in Potash One's mining project

In talks to buy 30 % in a South African firm’s rock phosphate mine in Zimbabwe.

State-run NMDC, the largest iron-ore producer, may invest in Potash One Inc’s mining project in Canada and a rock phosphate venture in Zimbabwe, as part of a plan to diversify into fertilisers.

The company received a proposal to study a “small” stake purchase in the Legacy project at Saskatchewan, according to NMDC Chairman Rana Som. Talks were also on with a South African fertilizer company to buy 30 per cent of a rock phosphate mine in Zimbabwe, he said, without elaborating.

India, the biggest potash importer in the world, might use 4.55 million metric tonnes of the soil nutrient in the year ending March, to boost yields of rice, fruit and vegetables, the government said in April.

The country, which buys all of its potash requirement from overseas, aimed to enact a National Food Security Act to ensure supply of grains at lower prices to poor, President Pratibha Patil said in June last year.

“Potash and rock phosphate will be required in higher quantities, as India aims to achieve food security,” Som added.

NMDC shares fell 0.8 per cent to Rs 247.2 and traded at Rs 249 as of 3.26 pm in Mumbai. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s key Sensitive Index fell 0.1 per cent.