Coal India CMD Partha Bhattacharyya divulging the intention of Coal Videsh for further expansion has said that the company is acquiring coking and non-coking coal blocks in Indonesia and Mozambique. Also, he said that he and his SAIL counterpart will soon visit Mozambique to finalize a few coal blocks.

 

Recently, Coal India in order to expand further has also formed a joint venture with SAIL, NMDC, NTPC and RINL. It will operate as Coal Ventures International (CVI) and its goal would be to acquire overseas blocks. However, Bhattacharyya said CVI and Coal Videsh would look for overseas blocks separately.

 

Commenting on Coal Videsh’s strategy, Bhattacharya said that they have adopted a two-pronged strategy for Coal Videsh. While in Indonesia it is going through the merchant banker route, it will go governmental discussion route in Africa. Also, the process of appointing 10 merchant bankers for identifying mines in Indonesia is on, he said.

 

Mr Bhattacharya commenting on the investment said that total investment will be Rs 2,000 crore on 18 washeries, and the combined capacity of the washeries will be 97 million tonne. In terms of capital expenditure plans for 2008-09, he said that Coal India would invest Rs 3,200 crore in the current fiscal.