Vedanta group company Sesa Goa today received the Liberia government's approval for acquisition of 51% stake in a local iron ore company for $90 million.
"...The Legislature of Liberia has ratified the Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) for the Western Cluster Project. Now, we can go ahead with our plan," a Sesa Goa official said.
Earlier this month, Sesa Goa had announced the deal pushing itself to become a significant player in the West African iron ore hub.
Western Cluster would carry out the development of the project as per the provisions of the MDA, the official said. Sesa Goa had earlier said it might start sending iron ore consignments from the company at Liberia by 2014.
Located in western part of Liberia and spread over 270 sq km area, Western Cluster has assets having long mine-life with an estimated reserve of over 1.05 billion tonne iron ore. The deposits are located close to the coast along Monrovia to Mano River.
It 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.
Sesa Goa did not divulge 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.
