Jindal in talks to buy foreign coal mines

Jindal Stainless is in "advanced stages" of acquiring coal mines in Australia, the Middle East and Indonesia. Jindal, which plans to invest $50-75 million in these acquisitions, is also scouting for iron ore mines in South Africa.

A company executive said, "Negotiations are in progress to arrive at the right valuations." He said the acquisition would be done either by Jindal alone or through a joint venture.

Earlier this year, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Orissa government to set up a 1.6 million tonne integrated stainless steel plant and a 500 megawatt captive power plant at Kalinga Nagar in the Jajpur district for Rs 6,628 crore.

The first phase of the project is expected to see the construction of 0.6 million tonne plant in 30-32 months, while the entire project was scheduled for completion by 2011.