After NMDC and Tata Steel, it is now the public sector major Steel Authority of India (SAIL) which is eyeing coking coal mines in Canada. The company is in discussions with a few companies in Canada?s mineral rich state of British Columbia (BC) for a possible acquisition of coal mines.
SAIL chairman CS Verma told FE, ?Columbia has been our target country in the past also and we are in discussions with a few companies in British Columbia already.? He was referring to the Canadian delegation which is expected to be in India for trade related talks, where they would be inviting Indian companies for investing in mines in BC. Verma, without giving specifics added, ?We definitely have a positive view on that.?
SAIL requires about 14 million tonne of coking coal a year. Only 3.5 million tonne is met through domestic sources while the remaining is imported, around 60% of which comes from Australia.
According to experts, Indian steel firms have big expansion plans to meet anticipated demand from the housing, consumer goods and infrastructure sectors. Hence, it is critical to secure supplies of coking coal by owning captive coal blocks. Steel players, including Tata Steel and JSW Steel are on a hunt for securing raw materials for their upcoming steel expansion.
India?s largest iron ore producer NMDC is also in talks for acquiring coking coal mines in BC. NMDC chairman Rana Som had earlier told FE, ?We have discussed with geologists there and also with the concerned minister for mines on the availability of coking coal properties in British Columbia. The province?s officials had briefed us on picking up stake in coking coal mines there. But we are more interested in acquiring a mine and operating it rather than just picking up stake,? he said. Similarly, Tata Steel is also reportedly talking to the government of British Columbia to acquire mines there to meet the requirements of the European operations.
Talking about International Coal and Ventures (ICVL), which is also targeting coking coal mines in geographies in Australia, Mozambique and the US, Verma revealed that ICVL is also in a very advance process of doing a due diligence of a few proposals. ?We had bid in the past but somehow it did not meet success. But now we are in advance stage of our due diligence process and I hope it will be successful.?
He said ICVL have already signed an MoU with the Indonesian government and have deputed a few geologists to carry out the exploration work of mines in Indonesia, ?They have offered us 3-4 different mining blocks and we had deputed geologists to carry out the exploratory work. The report is expected to be available to us in the next few months? time and then we should be in a position to zero down on an exact mining lease to be given by Indonesian government to us.?