NMDC to seal deals for coal, iron ore assets overseas soon

State-run NMDC today said it will soon clinch deals for overseas iron ores and coal assets, as talks are progressing fast with companies in the USA, Russia, Australia and Mozambique.

The mining giant is eyeing acquisitions to expand its capacity and to ensure raw material security for its upcoming steel mills in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

"We have shortlisted four-five assets in the US, Russia, Australia and Mozambique. Due diligence is on in respect to technical, financial etc details. If all goes as per plans, we hope to acquire coal and iron ore assets soon," NMDC Director (Finance) S Thiagarajan told PTI.

Sources said the deals could value about $500 million. However, Thiagarajan said the value of the assets are still to be assessed as the talks are at various levels.

In February this year, NMDC Chairman Rana Som had said that the Navratna firm was targetting six assets: three iron ores and three coal mines in Australia, Mozambique and Albania and had almost finalised deals for two.

NMDC has already forayed in to steel making and is setting up a 3 million tonne steel plant in Chhattisgarh. It plans to build the Rs 15,500-crore mill by 2014 for which it requires raw material security.

Besides, it has a joint venture with Russia's Severstal to set up an initial 2 million tonne per annum steel plant in Karnataka at a likely investment of Rs 25,000 crore, which can further be expanded to 5 million tonne per annum.

At present, the Navratna firm has annual iron ore production capacity of about 30 million tonne from 3 fully mechanised mines in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.