[miningmx.com] – TATA Steel will derive 10% of its coking coal
requirements from Rio Tinto’s Benga coal mine in Mozambique, said Bloomberg News
citing HM Nerurkar, MD of Tata Steel.
The first year’s shipments from the Benga coal mine are expected to total about
700,000 tons, Nerurkar told Bloomberg News. Tata Steel has an annual coking coal
requirement of six to eight million tons, he said.
Tatal Steel has a 35% stake in the Benga coal mine. The imported coking coal will
help Tata Steel lower its raw material costs.
“Benga coal will be a positive trigger for the European unit and we will definitely see
improvement in operational margins after supplies start,’ sJatin Damania, an analyst
at SBI Capital Markets Ltd. in Mumbai, told Bloomberg News.
“The company’s effort to seek raw material integration will bear fruit gradually,’ he
said. The Benga project, which Rio Tinto bought from Riversdale Mining last year, will
start production in the first half of this year.
