Ennore Coke Limited, a domestic manufacturer of metallurgical coke, plans to scout for land for its proposed one million tonne per annum (mtpa) coke plant at Dhamara port in Orissa within three to four months.
The company needed 250-300 acres of land at Dhamara to set up a one mtpa coke plant at an investment of about Rs 1,400 crore. The plant was scheduled to be operational by the end of 2010.
“We would start scouting for land for our proposed coke plant at Dhamara port within three to four months. The company intends to acquire land for the project on its own”, said Ganesan Natarajan, president and chief executive officer, Ennore Coke Limited.
On acquiring 90 per cent stake in Broughton Coal mines of Australia, Natarajan said, “We would conduct due diligence for the coal mines within a week. The company expects to close the deal at $10 million.”
Broughton coal mines of Australia are presently valued at about $12 million and they have an estimated reserve of 30 million tonnes of coking coal. Ennore Coke was looking to invest an additional $25-30 million on mining operations of these mines.
Ennore Coke had identified 3-4 coking coal properties in Australia for acquisition. It was also exploring the possibility of picking up stakes in coking coal assets in New Zealand.
Ennore Coke was aiming to pick up stakes in overseas coal mining assets as valuations of these properties were attractive in the aftermath of the economic downturn. Moreover, the company was aiming to achieve raw material security to cater to its expansion plans.
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At present, the coking coal requirement of Ennore Coke stands at 7,20,000 tonnes per annum. The company’s coking coal requirement is set to go up significantly in the next couple of years as it is aiming to scale up capacity of its coke plant at Haldia (West Bengal) from the existing 1.5 lakh tonnes per annum to 3 lakh tonnes per annum.
Besides, the company’s proposed coke plant at Dhamara would have a coking coal requirement of 1.3 million tonnes per annum.
To cater to its growing raw material requirement, Ennore Coke aimed to import about four lakh tonnes of coking coal, mainly from Australia in 2009-10 out of which 50 per cent would be semi-soft coking coal and the remaining 50 per cent being premium hard coking coal.
Meanwhile, the company has successfully pushed coke into its batteries in its coke plant located in Haldia last week.
Commenting on the achievement, Natarajan said, “This is a proud moment for us and I would like to take the opportunity for thanking every member of the Ennore Coke family who have toiled ceaselessly to achieve this milestone.”
The successful pushing of coke at the Haldia plant is the first stage of the process of coke making which will culminate with the company attaining its full capacity of producing 130,000 mtpa of coke by the end of May this year. Ennore Coke will also co-generate 12 MW of power, which in turn will generate carbon credits and further add to the company’s bottom-line.