[miningmx.com] – INDIA is negotiating with South Africa to buy coking coal reserves which the country’s coal secretary, Anil Swarup, said would feed India’s growing steel industry, said Reuters.
“They [Coal India Ltd, a state-owned company] are presently in negotiations with people in South Africa,” Swarup said. “We imported around 80-90 million tonnes of coking coal last (fiscal) year and if that is the amount that can come through a mine owned by Coal India, it would consider it.”
India, which wants to triple its steel capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2025, does not have enough reserves of coking or steelmaking coal, prompting Coal India to look at assets abroad, Swarup told the Reuters Global Commodities Summit on Monday.
“In three years we should be able to mine (all the power-generating) coal we require,” Swarup said. “The quality of coal that is not available will still be imported.”
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