NMDC scouting for coal mines in Russia, Mozambique, US

State-owned NMDC is considering proposals to acquire coal mines in countries, including Russia, Mozambique and the US, Parliament was informed today.

"NMDC is presently considering proposals for acquiring coal mines in different countries, including Russia, Mozambique and the US," Minister of State for Steel A Sai Prathap said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, lower house of Parliament.

"However, the process is at a preliminary stage only and no final decision for acquisition of coal mines abroad has been taken so far," he added.

The country's largest iron ore producer NMDC is actively looking to secure coal-- both coking and non-coking coal-- to feed its proposed steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka besides, feeding its planned foray into power sector.

Coking coal along with iron ore are the two vital inputs for steel making.

In Russia, NMDC is looking to acquire Kolmar's coal mines and other nearby assets. The coal mines are understood to have an estimated reserves of 400 million tonnes.

Also, NMDC as part of International Coal Ventures Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of leading PSUs, including the iron ore miner, SAIL and NTPC is evaluating a coal asset in the US, SAIL Chairman C S Verma had said last week.

NMDC along with two other companies has already submitted a $230-million non-binding bid to buy 70 per cent stake in an Australian mine owned by Perth-based Atlas Iron.

The company has proposed to set up a 2-million tonne per annum (MTPA) plant in Karnataka. Besides these JVs, NMDC plans to commission its 3-MTPA integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh by 2014 at an investment of over Rs 15,000 crore.

The miner is investing Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) to augment its annual iron ore production to about 41 million tonnes from around 22 million tonnes at present.