"It seems that the interests of Essar Group of India in the Australian coal sector extend beyond its recent $US150 million bid for Rocklands Richfield, which trumped a rival offer from Jindal Steel & Power of India.
Essar operatives were spotted by astute observers at Emerald airport in the Bowen Basin after their Gulfstream jet broke down. The Essar executives are said to have been visiting projects owned by Caledon Resources.
Caledon, which has a market value of $33 million, in February appointed RBC Capital Markets to conduct a strategic review after it had received an initial non-binding takeover bid from an unnamed party.
In an update last month, Caledon said it had recently opened its data room to more parties than had been allowed in initially due to increased interest in coking coal assets.
Caledon owns the small Cook mine, which produces 400,000 tonnes a year and has 406 million tonnes of resources, and the Minyango project, which has 342 million tonnes of resources."
