CII's organises mining mission to Iran
New Delhi: Hem Pande, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India, will lead a 14-member mining mission team to Iran to explore business opportunities for the Indian companies in the mining sector. The mission, which aims to promote the Indian mining and equipment industry, is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) from April 30 to May 7.

Iran is looking for India's support and cooperation in the areas of joint venture projects, investment in specific areas such as aluminium smelting, exploration of gas, bauxite mining, iron and copper mining, R & D training and consultancy services.
The Indian Mining and Mining Equipment companies would be looking for possible business tie-ups for joint sector projects and export of equipment and machinery to Iran.

The members of the mission will also participate in a seminar on cooperation between India and Iran in the mining sector, where representatives from both sides will brainstorm to evolve effective strategies for future cooperation.

The CII mission members include senior executives from Indian Mining Companies and leading Equipment Manufacturers like Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, Central Mine Research Institute, Essar Steel, Ispat Equipment (India) Pvt Ltd, HOSCH Equipment (India) Pvt Ltd, National Aluminium Co Ltd, Tega Industries Ltd, among others.
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Railways move an all time high coal in 2003-04
New Delhi: Indian Railways have transported 251.66 Million Tonnes (MTs) of coal, a record all time high, in 2003-2004 compared to 235.85 MTs in 2002-2003. This was higher by 15.81 MTs over the previous year and 3.58 MTs more than the target of 248 MTs.

Of the total coal traffic, 28.70 MTs of coal was for the steel plants, 2.12 MTs for the washeries, 177.13 MTs for the thermal power houses and 43.71 MTs for other users.
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All time high gold production in 2003-04
New Delhi: The gold production in the country during the year 2003-04 has been 10,198.545 kg as against 8445.5 kg produced during last year. Out of this Hutti Gold Mines Limited (HGML) produced 3096.545 kgs., Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) 195 kgs. and Hindustan Aluminium Company Limited (HINDALCO) 6,907 kgs.

After closure of Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) in 2001, HGML is the only unit processing gold from ore stage. Public sector HCL and private sector HINDALCO process gold as a by-product while processing copper. During the month of March, 2004, these companies produced 1173.723 kgs. of gold against a target of 943.598 kgs.
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New SIDBI initiatives for the growth of SMEs
New Delhi: SIDBI and the government of India are taking a slew of initiatives to give a fillip to the small and medium sector. In this regard, SIDBI in conjunction with Punjab National Bank and a few other institutions has proposed to set up a credit rating agency. To be made operational within the next six months, the main purpose of this programme would be to allay the fear of accountability (that the credit might turn out to be an NPA) currently prevailing in most of the banks. This was disclosed by V K Chopra, Chairman & MD, SIDBI, at the 20th Annual Session of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) in the capital today.

Chopra further informed that SIDBI would also set up a national technology bank, which will be made operational in the next six months. The technology bank will be a repository of all the latest technologies that are critical for the success of this sector.
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