Mozambique: Mozambican Coal Arrives in India The Indian state-owned International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) on Thursday announced that the first shipment of coal from its concession in central Mozambique has arrived at port in Visakhapatnam in eastern India. The premium hard coking coal from the Benga mine is destined for use by the Steel Authority of India. In October, ICVL acquired three concessions in Mozambique from the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto – its 65 per cent stake in the Benga open cast coal mine, and the Zambeze and Tete East projects, all in Tete province (the remaining stake is owned by Tata Steel). Of these, only Benga is in production, currently mining five million tonnes of coal a year. However, the company is looking at increasing production to twelve million tonnes per year. In a statement ICVL pointed out that “this shipment marks the beginning of establishing a long term and reliable source of supply”. It added, “with huge reserves now under the control of ICVL, coal output would be progressively increased for meeting current and the growing requirements of the Indian steel majors”. The company argued that “ICVL is putting in place a strong management team to make the mining operations efficient and cost effective. With transport infrastructure in Mozambique under expansion, ICVL would be well positioned to take advantage of increasing volumes from its Mozambique assets for imports to India”. ICVL is a joint venture between five Indian state owned concerns, namely the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Coal India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), NTPC Ltd and NMDC Ltd. It was set up to acquire coal assets abroad, in order to guarantee secure supplies of coking coal for the Indian steel industry. SAIL and RINL are increasing steel production and by 2015 will need 25 million tonnes per year of coking coal, most of which will be imported.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 18:38:25 +0000
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