Tuesday, February 16, 2010

RINL Looking To Swap Jharkhand Coal Blocks

Indian State-run steel maker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) is looking to swap two coal blocks in Jharkhand citing difficulties in developing the mines. The company is seeking two new coal blocks to replace those at Mahal and Tenughat-Jhirki, according to a source at India’s steel ministry. The Steel Ministry is expected to forward the request to the Coal Ministry.

Mahal has an estimated reserve of about 1,100 million tonnes (MT), while Tenughat-Jhirki contain about 215 MT of coking coal.

In addition RINL is actively looking to form joint ventures with miners of various grades of iron ore as the company lacks captive reserves of the raw material.

The firm's need for raw materials such as iron ore and coking coal is set to surge in the next year as it commissions the expanded production line at its Vishakhapatnam facility. Production at Vishakhapatnam is expected to 6MT a year by March 2011.

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