Australia is keen on investing $2 billion (around Rs 9,000 crore) in Orissa’s mining sector.
“We have an investment proposal of $2 billion for the mining sector of Orissa if all the issues related to it are addressed properly”, said Peter Varghese, Australian High Commissioner to India.
He was speaking on the occasion of his visit to the city campus of Centurion University of Technology & Management.
Varghese, who met chief minister Naveen Patnaik during the tour, said, “I along with chief executive officer of Rio Tinto discussed with him about issues related to mining in Orissa in the presence of Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) officials.”
On the fate of joint venture (JV) between OMC and the Anglo Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, which has been hanging fire for over one and half decades because of certain differences between the two parties, Varghese said, “We have taken up the issue with the state government and are awaiting a positive response.”It may be noted that Rio Tinto had entered into a JV for $1-billion iron ore mining project with OMC on February 24, 1995 to develop Gandhamardan and Malangtoli iron ore deposits in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts in Orissa with a mining capacity of 25 million tonnes per annum .