Mineral Corp to look for CBM, bauxite

Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL), Nagpur, a public sector unit under the department of mines, is looking at extraction coal bed methane (CBM), bauxite and mineral sands to drive volumes and topline growth in the near future.

MECL has undertaking contracts for proving CBM resources and has built up its own infrastructure in this specialised activity. It has been providing support to CBM investigation undertaken by other agencies in the field.

According to a release issued by MECL, it was at present working with ONGC and was negotiating with a number of key players in the field to further expand this business.

MECL was aiming to corner at least 20 per cent of the market in CBM drilling. It would also provide quality assurance service to coal producers.

In addition, MECL was looling at opportunities to take up prospecting and production of bauxite and mineral sands occurring at shallow depth.

It has signed a memorandum of understandings (MoUs) with companies in Poland and South Korea to take up mineral exploration and development projects jointly.

MECL, to further diversify its services basket, has identified mine closure planning, geo-hydrological investigation, consultancy services and geo-technical investigation to drive expansion.

MECL carried out 1.72 lakh metre of exploratory drilling and 3,357 metre of developmental mining in fiscal 2003-04. Turnover in the year was Rs 60.10 crore, up from Rs 44.83 crore in 2002-03. Gross margin at Rs 10.95 crore was up by over 300 per cent over the previous fiscal.

Set up in 1972, MECL so far has completed over 1,000 projects in mineral exploration and mine development and added 114 billion tonnes of mineral reserves to the national mineral inventory, the company said.

MECL performed 6.22 million metre of drilling, 4,218 sq km of detailed geological mapping and surveying and 0.21 million metre of exploratory and development mining.

Mineral deposits proved and placed for commercial exploitation by MECL included east coast bauxite reserves now supporting the alumina and aluminium plant of Nalco and India's largest open cast copper deposit mine at Malanjkhand being developed by Hindustan Copper Limited.

In the coal sector, MECL work helped raise production from 70 million to 300 million tonnes and development of lignite deposits in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu along with pit-head power projects now either under operation or planning.