Sesa may send consignment from Liberia in FY14

Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Resources' subsidiary Sesa Goa today said it may start sending iron ore consignments from its newly-acquired company at Liberia by 2014.

"Before the end of the current fiscal, we will be able to prepare the feasibility report and then if everything goes well, we will be able to start consignment from FY14," Sesa Goa Managing Director P K Mukherjee said on a conference call.

Sesa Goa had on August 6 announced that it would buy 51% stake in Western Cluster Project in Liberia for $90 million in an all-cash deal.

Mukherjee said Sesa Goa expects to start with around 5 million tonnes an year production, which could be ramped up in the days to come.

However, he did not give details of capital expenditure that would be required for the development of the projects, saying that would depend upon the outcome of the feasibility report.

The acquisition, which is subject to ratification by the Liberia Legislature, would help Sesa Goa to become in the toppers' league in the iron ore arena, he said.

Located in Western part of Liberia and spread over 270 sq km area, the company has assets having long mine-life with an estimated reserve of over 1.05 billion tonnes iron ore. The deposits are located close to the coast along Monrovia to Mano River.

Western Cluster has concessions to mine the Mano River Iron Ore Deposits, the Western portion of the Bomi Hills Iron Ore Deposits and the Bea Mountain Iron Ore Deposits.

Western Cluster is owned by Elenilto Minerals and Mining LLC, which operates large-scale iron ore, gold, copper and other minerals exploration and mining activities in Africa and Europe. Elenilto has more than 100 exploration and mining licences with over 10,000 sq km area in Africa and Europe.