Coal India plans more acquisitions in Mozambique

Coal India (CIL), the world's largest coal producer, is planning to make more acquisitions in Mozambique, said CIL chairman N C Jha during the company's 37th annual general meeting yesterday.

"Initiatives have been taken to operationalise Coal India Africana Limitada (CIAL) to oversee exploration and development of coal blocks already under possession and to venture into further acquisition initiatives in Mozambique," said Jha.

Kolkata-based CIL was awarded two coal blocks in December 2010 in the Maotize region in Mozambique having an estimated reserve of one billion tonnes of coking and thermal coal.

After winning Block AI and A2 against nine other bidders, CIL had set up CIAL, a wholly-owned subsidiary, which has to form a joint venture with a local partner identified by the government of Mozambique.

CIL will be able import 10 million tons of coal in the next 10 years from these two coal blocks. While Mozambique holds the right for 15 per cent of the output from these two coal blocks, the remaining 85 per cent can be exported to India by CIL.

CIL, which accounts for 82 per cent of the country's production, has been scouting for overseas coal mine assets to bridge the growing coal shortage in the country and rising imports that are estimated to reach over 100 million tonnes by 2012.