NMDC to ink pact with South Africa's Kopano tomorrow

State-owned NMDC will enter into a joint venture pact tomorrow with South Africa's Kopano Ke Matla Investment Company to scout for minerals like iron ore and manganese in the African nation.

"A two-member NMDC team headed by CMD Rana Som is in South Africa. The agreement with Kopano will be signed tomorrow," a senior company official told PTI. Rana Som is a part of the Indian delegation at the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Summit.

Last year, NMDC had signed an MoU with Kopano for setting up the JV. Since then, the two parties were working on the JV agreement.

Kopano Ke Matla Investment Company is the investment arm of South Africa's biggest trade union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which facilitates foreign investment in African countries.

As per the rules, a foreign firm willing to develop or acquire mineral assets in the country needs to have a tie-up with a local company, which should be given a 26 per cent stake in any JV.