State-owned Coal India Ltd has said that it aims to acquire an overseas mine in the year ending 31 March.
According to reports, the company has hired Royal Bank of Canada to carry out due diligence on a deposit in Australia.
Chairman Partha Bhattacharyya said that the company is seeking mines in the U.S., Australia, South Africa and Indonesia and as many as 52 companies want be its strategic partners.
He also said that ten firms, including steel major ArcelorMittal, have expressed interest in developing its 18 abandoned coal mines in eastern India, which have reserves of 1.6 bt.
Coal India has also announced its plans to float its first-ever coal import tender in November to meet growing demand from India's power sector. It will issue a tender for 4 mt, with shipments to arrive from January, said technical director N.C. Jha.
According to Jha, India was likely to import a total of 60 mt of coal in 2009/10, up from 57 mt last year. According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the share of coal-fired plants in India's total installed power generation capacity will rise to 57% by March 2012 from the current 53.3%.
Coal India's chief general manager of sales and marketing J. Goel forecast earlier this year that the country's coal demand could reach 731 mtpa by March 2012.
