And another.......Jindal Steel & Power is in advanced talks with...

And another.......


Jindal Steel & Power is in advanced talks with New South Wales based mining firm Hudson Resources to form a joint venture for exploration and mining of coking coal in Australia. The JV is expected to absorb investments of USD 100 million, once mining commences in the proposed coal block.

Another New South Wales based firm Hindustan Global Resources engaged in exploration, mining and consulting, is negotiating on behalf of the Australian company. HGR has also been assigned the job to carry out exploration and mining work for the JV.

Mr Amar Bhasin vice president of HGR said that “JSPL executives had a fruitful meeting with the directors of Hudson Resources and HGR a few days ago. If everything goes well, we hope to finalize the deal in the next few days. He added that “The initial investments in the venture for carrying out exploration work will be close to USD 8 million.”

DN Abrol executive director (raw materials) of JSPL told ET that “We are talking to many Australian mining firms for setting up a JV to meet captive coking coal requirements. The extracted coal will be shipped to India. But, nothing has been finalized so far.”

The coal mines are located in Maryborough Basin of Queensland with estimated recoverable reserves of 20 million tonne which could go up to 200 million tonne if explored further. JSPL will hold 15% equity in the proposed JV during the exploratory stage, while Hudson Resources which has interests in minerals such as bauxite and coal will own the majority stake. Once deposits are defined, the Indian firm will have option to raise its stake to 50%.

The proposed JV will help JSPL meet raw material requirements for two of its upcoming Greenfield steel projects with a capacity of 6 million tonne each in Orissa and Jharkhand. Coking coal is a key input in steel manufacturing.