In an attempt to address the domestic shortages of minerals in the country, India has asked Kazakhstan to allow country’s largest iron ore miner NMDC to explore greenfield mining projects there, particularly those of iron ore, coal and potash.
India raised this issue during a meeting of steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar and a delegation led by Kazakhstan minister of investment and development Asset Issekeshev.
The central Asian country has rich resource of the minerals that has very little use in the country. India wants to harness this resource by activating its companies so that produced minerals could be brought back for use by the domestic industry.
“The current talks could lead up to definitive agreement during the visit of prime minister Narendra Modi to Kazakhstan next month,” said an official in the steel ministry.
NMDC has pinned hopes on government-to-government deals in Kazakhstan as it had earlier attempted to take up coal mining projects in the Central Asian country though JVs or special purpose vehicles failed to get the requisite response.
In 2011, NMDC had issued an open-ended expression of interest inviting owners of mineral concessions overseas or merchant bankers representing the latter, to apply in greenfield or brownfield development projects through JVs or special purpose vehicles.
Tomar has favoured the idea of forming a working group that would study the partnership in detail and pave the way for a MoU between the two countries.
The government has widened the role for NMDC to grow beyond domestic boundaries and explore minerals across the globe to feed the growing appetite of the Indian industry. The company is also exploring opportunities in Afghanistan for mining iron ore in a consortium with other Indian public and private sector companies.
Though India has the third largest resource of coal, the demand-supply mismatch of the commodity is expected to grow to over 260 million tonne by 2017 due to increased demand from the power sector. Similarly, from being a net exporter of iron ore, the country has started iron ore imports at modest levels now.
“The mineral consumption is set to grow manifold in the country over the coming years and it is best that Indian companies utilise the present softening of commodity prices to build asset across the globe,” said the steel ministry official.
With the idea to build global portfolio of mineral assets, the government has already set up International Coal Ventures (ICVL) in 2009. This consortium of four Indian PSUs has secured participation in coal assets in Mozambique. It is also exploring opportunities in Australia, South and North America and other countries in Africa. Indian private sector metal and mining companies such as Tata Steel, Jindal, JSW, Adani also have secured coal assets abroad.
Source: .mydigitalfc.com
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