Muthuraman: All for coke

Calcutta, Feb. 22: Tata Steel is planning fresh acquisition of coking coal mines in Australia.

The company could acquire two to three coal mines Down Under, managing director B.Muthuraman told The Telegraph.

“We are in discussions now. The deals may be concluded within this year,” he added.

The company is setting up a 1.2-million-tonne coke oven plant at Haldia to supply metallurgical coke to its Jamshedpur steelworks. The coking coke procured from the Australian mines would also make their way to this plant to produce met coke.

The coke oven plant at Haldia is scheduled to be commissioned by April 2007. The company needs to have an assured supply of coking coal by then.

Muthuraman said Hooghly Met Coke and Power, the Tata Steel coke oven subsidiary, would get coal from Australia.

India has a large coal deposit, which is, however, high on ash content. Therefore, coking coal ? used in steel making ? is a sought-after commodity here.

Tata Steel acquired a 5 per cent stake in a coal mine in Australia in July 2005.

The life of the Carborough Downs Coal Project, located in Queensland, Australia, is estimated to be 14 years.

Approximately 58 million tonnes of raw coal is expected to be mined during this period. The production in the mine will start in 2006 and the shipment to India will start after that.

However, the company is hungry for more coal mines in keeping with its strategy to secure long-term unaffected supply of coking coal.

Given its aggressive expansion plan within the country ? it plans to step up production to 30 million tonnes by the next 10 years and 15 mt by 2010 ? the company would require a lot of coking coal.

Tata Steel is, however, not alone in its endeavour to acquire coal mines abroad. Gujarat NRE Coke, the largest non-captive coking coal company, and Calcutta-based Visa Steel has acquired mines in Australia.