Power News : Coal India eyes assets in Myanmar and Botswana Source: Financial Express, Inronil Roychowdhury / Kolkata, 17 July 2013 Coal India (CIL) is planning to invest in new coal assets in Myanmar and Botswana after its decision to start mining in Mozambique by FY 17. A coal ministry official told CIL’s entry into Myanmar could be very strategic for India as this could create scope for wider Indian investment in the country alongside Chinese investment. China has invested more than $ 8 billion in hydro electric, oil & gas production and coal mining. But the Myanmar government is keen to attract more foreign investment, technical assistance and issuing production-sharing contract in the coal sector since most of its reserves are yet to be tapped. Myanmar has coal reserves of over 270 million tonne, but the country produces less than 2 mt annually. The government there has recently decided to form JVs to exploit around 44% of its total reserves and wants to keep only 3% exclusively in the state’s hand. It is open to give the rest of the reserves to private hands. According to Prasenjit Chatterjee, a director in Zenyam Mines of Indonesia if Myanmar opens for mining by Indian companies a chunk of trade would shift from Indonesia. The Indonesian government for long has been talking of imposing stringent norms for coal export from the country but nothing has come so far. However, Indonesian coal has high moisture and presence of volatile matter is high in Indonesian coal, for which it is highly combustible. It is difficult to stock Indonesian coal, which generally has a gross calorific value (GCV) of above 5,000 kilo calorie a kg. A lot of water has to be sprinkled on the coal to prevent its combustion. So, carrying Indonesian coal means carrying a lot of water. But freight advantage has always allured traders to bring coal from Indonesia rather than from other parts of the world, Chatterjee said, adding if CIL opened the doors to Myanmar other operators would follow. But others operators would not follow CIL to Botswana or Mozambique since coal mining there would be a government-to-government affair. A CIL official said the coal major was trying to partner with the Botswana government and a team comprising CIL and coal ministry officials would soon go on a fact-finding mission. Coal blocks in Botswana are under the ministry of mineral, energy & water and the government there allots blocks on nomination basis. Coal blocks in Botswana are an extension of the blocks in Mozambique, where CIL would mine. A CIL official said the company has already submitted its report to the coal ministry on the requirement of social sector spending in Mozambique to develop the blocks. It would soon set up an apex planning organisation and apex training organisation for mining in Mozambique. financialexpress/news/coal-india-eyes-assets-in-myanmar-and-botswana/1142620/0
Posted on: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 09:06:01 +0000
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