Iron ore miner NMDC is considering bidding for Bunder diamond project in Madhya Pradesh from which global giant Rio Tinto exited this year, according to a company source.
"The company is interested and is planning to bid for the diamond project. There has been some groundwork and preliminary survey for the same," the source said on the condition of anonymity.
An email query sent to NMDC CMD N Baijendra Kumar remained unanswered.
Mining giant Rio Tinto had in February said it has exited from diamond mining project in Madhya Pradesh and handed over its ownership to the state government.
Metals and mining major Vedanta Ltd and the Adani Group may also bid for the diamond project, sources had earlier said.
Madhya Pradesh Mining Secretary Manohar Lal Dubey had earlier told PTI that notice inviting tender for the said project will be released this month and it will be an online tendering process.
When asked about the tentative cost of the project, Dubey had said it is very difficult to comment on that as there are many factors involved in it.
He had said, however, as per the Indian Bureau of Mines the value of diamonds likely to be extracted from the project is estimated to be around Rs 60,000 crore.
In August 2016, Rio Tinto announced it would not proceed with the development of Bunder due to commercial considerations and would be seeking to close all project infrastructure.
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