Days after signing a pact to buy Rio Tinto's three coal assets in Mozambique, state-owned International Coal Ventures (ICVL) today said it is scouting for more acquisitions.
"With this, we are not going to stop. We will keep our eyes and ears open," Chairman of International Coal Ventures (ICVL) C S Verma told reporters here.
ICVL had on July 28 signed a pact to buy Rio Tinto's 65 per cent stake in Benga and 100 per cent each in Zambeze and Tete East coal assets, cumulatively having around 2.6 billion tonnes of reserve for USD 50 million (about Rs 300 crore).
Verma, who is also Chairman of SAIL, said the consortium would form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the interested allies for the acquisition.
ICVL, a joint venture of Steel Authority of India, Coal India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, NTPC and NMDC among others, was created to ensure long-term security of supply of the critical raw material for the steel industry.
Tata Steel holds 35 per cent stake in the Benga mine, but has right to offtake 40 per cent of the raw material. Verma said the first shipment from the Benga mine to India was expected by the end of the current year.
Verma said coal brought from Mozambique would help steel makers, including SAIL, who are required to import roughly one million tonne every month.
"The cost of shipping freight from Mozambique is also less compared to the traditional countries of import such as Australia and the US," he said.
The deposits contain both coking and thermal coals in the ratio of 70:30, he said, adding that plans are there to ramp up Benga mine's production to 12 million tonnes from five million tonnes now.
The assets also have four trillion unit CBM reserves and the SPV would look for a technological partner for extracting gas. ICVL had set itself a target of owning 500 mt coking coal reserves by 2019-20.
To a separate question, he said, the SAIL-led consortium is yet to firm up its investment plan for the Afghanistan project.
