Monnet Ispat and Energy has acquired a coal mine in Sumatra region in Indonesia, which is expected to produce an annual 5 million tonnes when developed fully.
Confirming this, company officials said an investment of $30-35 million will be made in the coal block spread over 25,000 hectares and the company is in the process of securing regulatory clearances.
Company officials, however, did not divulge how much additional investment will be made to develop the block.
Monnet Ispat chairman and managing director Sandeep Jajodia said, ?We have almost completed doing a detailed evaluation of the coal reserves in the block and soon be finalising our estimate.? The company expects to start developing the block after April next year.
The government has recenttly de-allocated Urtan North coal block in Madhya Pradesh held by Monnet and Jindal Steel and Power as the companies had allegedly failed to develop the block in time.
Jajodia said that the development related milestone for the mine could not be met due to delays in regulatory clearances, but said the de-allocation won?t have any financial impact on the company.
Reacting to the de-allocation, Monnet group senior vice-president (marketing and corporate affairs) Amitabh S Mudgal had said: ?It is ironic that development time given for a mine is far, far away from the ground reality. We will go to the court and in the process the prime focus of developing the block will get diverted resulting in further delays in augmenting coal production.?
Monnet Ispat and Energy reported a 15% drop in its net-profit at R60.19 crores for the quarter ended September 2013.