Adhunik eyes Aussie coking coal mine - Initiates Talks To Acquire 50% Stake For $100 M
The Economic Times – Wednesday 13 January 2010, New Delhi
THE Adhunik Group of Industries with interests in power, steel, cement, transmission towers and mining businesses has initiated talks to acquire 50% stake in an Australian coking coal mine for $100 million, said a person with direct knowledge of the development.
The mine, located in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, has total estimated coal reserves of around 180 million tonne.
The deal, if successful, will be routed through public listed Adhunik Metaliks, which is the flagship company of Adhunik Group and operates an integrated steel plant in Orissa. Coking coal is a key input for steel-making and the acquisition will help Adhunik Metaliks meet its raw material requirements.
When contacted, Adhunik Group director Nirmal Kumar Agarwal said, “We are currently working on several deals in Indonesia and Australia, as these places are known for their finest and high-quality coking coal assets. Discussions are at a pre-mature stage and nothing has materialised so far.” He, however, did not reveal details of the proposed transactions.
The negotiations between Adhunik Group and the Australian firm, holding stake in the mine, is being facilitated by Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), an Australian company engaged in exploration, mining and consulting. HGR is owned by a group of non resident Indians.
“We have offered a mine to Adhunik Group on behalf of the Australian firm to meet its raw material requirements,” HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin said. He, however, declined to disclose the Australian company’s name. HGR has also proposed to undertake coal exploration and mining work for Adhunik group post acquisition.
Kolkata-based Adhunik Metaliks is currently operating a 0.45-million tonne steel plant in Rourkela and has plans to expand the unit further.
The Adhunik Group has a turnover of more than Rs 3,000 crore of which the flagship company accounts for little less than half.
L&T mines offer for 250mt coalfield in Queensland
The Economic Times – Monday 7 September 2009, Pramugdha Mamgain, New Delhi
LARSEN and Toubro (L&T), the country’s largest engineering and construction company, is in talks to buy a thermal coal mine in Australia for about $300 million, at least two people familiar with the development said.
L&T has shown interest in the mine at Queensland in northeastern Australia, said Amar Bhasin, vice-president of Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), an Australian exploration, mining and consulting company that is facilitating the negotiations.
The mine has estimated coal reserves of 250 million tonnes that can generate enough electricity to meet the country’s needs for about seven months. “The mine we have offered to L&T on behalf of the Australian firm lies close to the Brisbane port, which makes it more attractive,” said Mr Bhasin who refused to reveal the identity of the Australian company.
Australia is known for its high-quality coal assets. The deal will cost the Indian company $250-300 million, said another person with direct knowledge of the company’s plan.
“The acquisition will help in case the company plans to bid for any ultra mega power project (UMPP) going forward,” said the person requesting anonymity.
L&T is also in talks with some mining firms in Indonesia for possible acquisitions, the person added. The L&T spokesman declined to comment on the development. L&T, one of the biggest suppliers of power generation equipment in the country, plans to make a major entry into the power generation space. It had roped in Ravi Uppal, former head of global markets division of the ABB Group, as managing director of L&T Power in last December.
HGR, which is owned by a group of non-resident Indians, has also proposed to assist L&T in the project. “We have given a proposal to L&T under which we are ready to undertake coal exploration and mining work for the firm, post-acquisition,” Mr Bhasin said.
He, however, said the Australian firm is yet to get a mining license for the coal block from the government.
JSPL may form JV with Aussie firm
The Economic Times – Friday 1 May 2009 Pramugdha Mamgain, ET Bureau New Delhi
NAVEEN Jindal led Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) is in advanced talks with New South Wales-based mining firm Hudson Resources to form a joint venture for exploration and mining of coking coal in Australia, said a person who is mediating in the proposed venture. The JV is expected to absorb investments of $100 million once mining commences in the proposed coal block.
The coal mines are located in Maryborough Basin of Queensland with estimated recoverable reserves of 20 million tonne (mt), which could go up to 200 mt if explored further. JSPL will hold 15% equity in the proposed JV during the exploratory stage, while ASX-listed Hudson Resources, which has interests in minerals such as bauxite and coal, will own the majority stake. Once deposits are defined, the Indian firm will have option to raise its stake to 50%.
The proposed JV will help JSPL meet raw material requirements for two of its upcoming greenfield steel projects with a capacity of 6 mt each in Orissa and Jharkhand. Coking coal is a key input in steel making and is found in abundance in Australia.
Another New South Wales-based firm Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), engaged in exploration, mining and consulting business, is negotiating on behalf of the Australian company. HGR has also been assigned the job to carry out exploration and mining work for the JV.
HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin said, “JSPL executives had a fruitful meeting with the directors of Hudson Resources and HGR few days ago. If everything goes well, we hope to finalise the deal in the next few days.” The initial investments in the venture for carrying out exploration work will be close to $8-million, he added.
When contacted, JSPL executive director (raw materials) DN Abrol said, “We are talking to many Australian mining firms for setting up a JV to meet captive coking coal requirements. The extracted coal will be shipped to India. But, nothing has been finalised so far.” Several Indian companies in the steel and power generation space have been scouting for coal assets abroad to ensure feedstock for captive consumption. Coal mining in India is confined to few public sector companies and the country has limited reserves of coking coal. As a result, steel companies are largely dependent on imports.
“In order to ensure long term resource security, companies prefer owning some quality assets abroad. Moreover, its a cost advantage as coking coal prices in the spot market keeps on fluctuating,” says a Delhi-based steel analyst.
OCFL in talks with Indonesian cos to buy coal reserves
The Economic Times – Monday 6 April 2009 Pramugdha Mamgain, New Delhi
OSWAL Chemicals and Fertilisers (OCFL), a part of Abhay Oswal-led Oswal Group, has initiated talks with three separate Indonesian coal firms to acquire thermal coal reserves for captive and commercial use, said a person, who is mediating in the deal. Thermal coal is used for generating power and making fertilisers.
Although the Indian firm has been offered six thermal coal mines in Indonesia with reserves ranging from 25-260 million tonnes, it’s keen to buy mines having reserves of around 100 million tonne. The deal, if successful, could cost the company anywhere between $30-50 million(Rs 150-250 crore).
Australian consulting firm Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), which is also engaged in exploration and mining business, is negotiating on behalf of the Indonesian firms.
Once the deal is finalised, HGR will provide the mining equipment besides exploring and developing coal mines for OCFL.
“While some Indonesian mining companies have offered up to 70% stake in the mines to OCFL, others are ready to sell off the entire mine. The Indian firm has shown interest in the offers,” said HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin.
He, however, declined to name the Indonesian firms.
When contacted by ET, OCFL chief consultant TN Jaggi, said, “We have been scouting for coal mines overseas for some time now in places such as Indonesia, South Africa and the US. We have been offered mines by HGR on behalf of some Indonesian firms recently and we are considering the proposal. Nothing has been finalised so far.”
< Besides meeting captive requirements, the Indian firm will also sell coal to domestic power generation companies, Mr Bhasin added.
Elaborating on the coal blocks offered to Oswal Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Bhasin said that Truba mine in South Sumatra with coal reserves of 140 million tonne and East Kalimantan based PT ACK having reserves of 100 million tonne fits well into OCFL’s coal requirement.
The Indian firm already has access to 2,000 hectare of coal concession in Indonesia, which has more than 600 million tonne of coal reserves. NSE-listed Oswal Chemicals and Fertilisers, a diversified firm earning revenues from real estate besides fertiliser, clocked consolidated sales of around Rs 640 crore in 2007-08.
JSW weighs Oz mining JV
The Economic Times – Monday 16 March 2009 Pramugdha Mamgain, ET Bureau New Delhi
SAJJAN Jindal-led JSW Steel has initiated talks with an Australian mining firm to form a joint venture for exploration and mining of coking coal in Queensland, Australia, said a person who is mediating in the proposed venture. Coking coal is a key input in steel-making and the proposed JV will help JSW to secure raw material requirement.
New South Wales-based Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), is engaged in exploration, mining and consulting business and is negotiating on behalf of the Australian company. HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin said the ASX-listed firm has offered JSW up to 50% stake in the JV that would absorb total investments of close to Rs 50-60 crore initially. He, however, declined to name the Australian firm.
Mr Bhasin added, “The talks are still at initial stages. We have offered three different coking coal mines to JSW on behalf of the Australian mining firm with total reserves of around 20 million tonnes. Continuous exchange of information is taking place between the two firms and JSW is also conducting due diligence.”
The Australian firm has reserves of 20 million tonnes of recoverable coking coal, which could go up to 200 million tonnes if explored further. The JV, if successful, will give JSW Steel access to 20 million tonnes of coking coal reserves initially.
When contacted by ET, JSW Steel executive director (mining) Tuhin Mukherjee said, “We have been scouting for assets such as coking coal and iron ore globally for captive consumption. Our focus is on countries such as China, Canada, Indonesia, Australia and the US but nothing has been finalised so far.”
JSW currently has a capacity to produce around 7.8 million tonnes of steel and is setting up a 10-million-tonne integrated steel plant at Shalboni in West Bengal. Although coking coal requirement of the upcoming plant is huge, JSW will partly meet its demand through the proposed Australian JV. In India, JSW has access to three coking coal blocks having estimated reserves of more than 300 million tonnes.
Singareni to tie up with Hind Global
The Economic Times – Tuesday 6 January 2009 - Pramugdha Mamgain NEW DELHI
PUBLIC sector coal mining firm Singareni Collieries Co (SCCL) is in advanced talks with Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), an Australian firm owned by a group of non-resident Indians (NRIs) to set up a joint venture to get coal-to-briquette technology into India.
Jointly owned by the state government of Andhra Pradesh and the government of India, SCCL is likely to hold a majority stake in the JV that will entail investments of Rs 50 crore initially.
Coal briquetting process is a technology which converts inferior quality coal fines, tailings and washery rejects to eco-friendly briquettes, which are later used by steel and power producers.
The coal cleaning technology will help SCCL in utilising coal waste, which is otherwise dumped into rivers and thereby polluting water. If left unattended, coal fines and tailings sometime seep into the soil and may cause soil erosion.
“The proposed JV is expected to get finalised during the first quarter of next fiscal. We, in collaboration with SCCL, intend to set up 10 briquette plants across different locations in the initial phase”
“The number of plants would be scaled up if required. The shareholding would be restricted to the joint venture partners,” said HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin. Currently, SCCL operates 13 opencast and 42 underground mines in Andhra Pradesh with total coal reserves of about 8.5-billion tonne. While initially, only coal waste would be converted into briquette, HGR will take the charge of converting even normal coal into briquette at later stages to enhance the quality.
SCCL in talks with Hindustan Global for JV
5 Jan 2009, 1748 hrs IST, Pramugdha Mamgain, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Public sector coal mining firm Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) is in advanced talks with Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), an
Australian firm owned by a group of non resident Indians(NRIs) to set up a joint venture to get coal-to-briquette technology into India.
Jointly owned by the state government of Andhra Pradesh
and the government of India, SCCL, is likely to hold a majority stake in the JV that will entail investments of Rs 50 crore initially. Coal briquetting process is a technology which converts inferior quality coal fines, tailings and washery rejects to eco-friendly briquettes, which are later used by steel and power producers.
The coal cleaning technology will help SCCL in utilising coal waste, which is otherwise dumped into rivers and thereby polluting water. If left unattended, coal fines and tailings sometime seeps into the soil and may cause soil erosion. The proposed JV is expected to get finalised during the first quarter of next fiscal. We, in collaboration with SCCL, intend to set up 10 briquette plants across different locations in the initial phase.
The number of plants would be scaled up if required. The shareholding would be restricted to the joint venture partners, said HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin. Currently, SCCL operates 13 opencast and 42 underground mines in Andhra Pradesh with total coal reserves of about 8.5-bn tonne.
While initially only coal waste would be converted into briquette, HGR will take the charge of converting even normal coal into briquette at later stages to enhance the quality.
The coal-to-briquette technology, which was invented by Mark De llmico, an independent director and scientist with HGR, can be applied to both thermal and coking coal. While coking coal is used in steel making, thermal coal is used for power generation.
Besides coal wastes, some agricultural additives also goes into making briquette which burns eight times more than wood and does not emit harmful greenhouse gases. Countries such as Australia, New Zealand and China are already ahead of India in implementing the technology.
The Economic Times – Wednesday 17 December 2008
ICVL EYES 220MT COAL LINKS WITH NZ, US COS
Pramugdha Mamgain & Subhash Narayan
New Delhi
FROM the depths of the earth, here is a move defying the credit crunch logic. International Coal Ventures (ICVL), a vehicle floated by five public sector companies, is in talks with three New Zealand based coal mining firms—Te Kuha, Tatu and Coal Brookdale —and a US-based coal company Tennessee for buyouts to the tune of $450-500 million.
The talks, if successful, will give India access to 220 million tonnes of coal reserves enough to reduce country’s import dependence by about 20%. The talks have been facilitated by Hindustan Global Resources (HGR), an Australian firm engaged in exploration, mining and consulting. “We identified a few coal blocks in both the regions that were up for sale and forwarded the proposal to ICVL. They are talking to the firms concerned” said HGR vice-president Amar Bhasin. The acquisitions will help ICVL get access to both thermal and coking coal reserves. Block deals
COKING coal is used by steel makers and is in short supply in the country forcing a 28 million-tonne import in 2007-08. Thermal coal is used by power plants and is in demand thanks to the rapid addition in generation capacity.
An ICVL official refused to confirm the developments but added, “We have been scouting for lucrative opportunities overseas for some time now. But there’s no deal in the offing as of now.” Though the size of New Zealand-based coking and thermal coal blocks is nearly 20 million tonne, the acquisition of these blocks would give ICVL access to neighboring 60 million tonne of coal reserves under the adjacent mining privilege clause. The mining rights for all the three blocks is spread over a period of 30-40 years. Tennessee, on the other hand, has reserves of close to 140 million tonne of coking and thermal coal. Though the exploration work on the mine is over, it is yet to obtain a mining permit. It is learnt that it will take another two years to get the mining rights for the block. Apart from the two locations, ICVL is also exploring coal deals both acquisition and supply deals) in a host of other countries including Indonesia, Australia, Zimbabwe, Russia and Canada. In fact, the company is in advanced stage of acquiring stake in an Australian coal mining firm.
HGR, which is facilitating the deals, has also approached ICVL to provide its mining services in any of its future deals. “We have given a proposal to ICVL under which we are ready to undertake coal exploration and mining work for the firm using our expertise and technology. We are still awaiting a response from the company in this regard,” said Mr Bhasin.
ICVL was formed last year by five public sector companies Steel Authority of India Ltd, National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, National Mineral Development Corporation and Coal India Ltd with a view to make acquire coal blocks overseas. The acquisition of coal blocks would serve the raw material requirements of the parent companies given their massive expansion plans.
In 2007-08, India imported about 50 million tonne of coal. The Planning Commission has estimated that demand supply mismatch in coal may reach 200 million tonne by 2012 increasing country’s import dependence.
The Economic Times – Wednesday 3 December 2008
CIL plans JV with Aussie firm for better coal usage
Ruhi Kandhari, ET Bureau
New Delhi: The government is considering a proposal of Australia – based Hindustan
Global Resources Ltd (HGR) to form a joint venture with public sector Coal India Ltd
(CIL) for efficient use of coal.
The Australian firm has proposed to offer the coal-to-briquette technology that would use coal wastes from mines and washeries to produce fuel briquettes.
“The results from an economic feasibility study for briquettes production uses blends of coal tailings, fines and an organic waste binder,” HGR vice president of Amar Bhasin said.
“The technology can significantly utilize the undersized coal waste and mix it with an agricultural binder to produce coal briquettes for use in fuelling coal-fired power stations, steel plants and other commercial and domestic uses,” he said.
The 18 abandon mines of CIL may produce up to 320 million tonnes of coal fines during the life of the projected reserves and coal tailings production will increase as production of washed coal increases, he added. A CIL official said the company is considering the proposal.
Dipesh Dipu, principal consultant (mining) with audit and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said, “coal tailings from washeries are generally discarded as waste from coal washeries contains moisture and cannot be used further for any purpose. Briquetting technology can remove the moisture and make it into solid palettes to make it fit for use for consumer industries.”
The Economic Times – Wednesday 6 August 2008
Coal technologies
THIS is with reference to the news item, ‘Coal, gas imports
put India at risk’, (ET, Aug 4).
In order to reduce dependency on coal import and on buying
overseas coal assets, Coal India, NTPC, SAIL & Tata Steel
should explore other avenues and technologies like the coal-to-briquette
(C-T-B) technology and also develop their research and development.
Australia has recently imposed a ban on investments in coal
assets by other countries. Other countries may follow suit
in order to conserve their natural resources.
AMAR BHASIN
AUSTRALIA, AUGUST 4
The Economic Times – Tuesday 22 April 2008
Hi – tech mining
THIS refers to ‘Captive coal mines may be allowed to sell
10% of output’ (ET, April 21). The Planning Commission and
the PMO should consider unconditional commercial mining for
those involved in R&D and promotion of clean coal technologies.
For example, the coal – to briquette (C – T – B) technology
which has the potential to narrow the gap between output and
demand and could also reduce dependency on imported coal.
An Australian company, Hindustan Global Resources, is willing
to tap the 900 million tones of Meghalaya and Assam coal which
contains as high as 5 – 6 % sulphur by utilising the technology
which locks 100% sulphur.
AMAR BHASIN
AUSTRALIA, APRIL 21
Economic Times – Friday 30 November 2007
Don’t hinder mining
THIS refers to your edit ‘Mining & environment ‘ (ET,
Nov 30). The empowered panel appointed by the apex court to
monitor the government’s decision-making on environment, should
make it mandatory for all miners of coal, bauxite and iron
ore to set up briquetting plants to take care of the waste
in tailings and produce ‘eco-friendly fuel’ simultaneously.
The committee should encourage such measures instead of
creating hurdles in the mining industry. That would be both
beneficial to the environment and economy, thus increasing
employment and full utilisation of resources.
Amar Bhasin
By e-mail, Nov 30
Business Standard – Wednesday 21 March 2007 New Delhi
Better coal
This is with reference to “Coal imports sought to be upped
for coastal companies” (March 16). Surely history repeats
itself. First India was sold to the East India Company and
now, if not checked it will be sold to Import India Company!
There is no doubt, coal is and will remain the major source
of energy in India. Self dependency in energy is essential
to retain our independent status in the world. To achieve
this a coal technology is available which has been introduced
in many countries including China, another country with very
large reserves of low grade coal. This technology enhances
the heat generating capacity of coal eight times more than
normal coal and makes Indian coal comparable with imported
coal for us in their thermal power stations and industry.
Not only coal, it even transforms coal fines and coal washery
rejects, which at present stagnate in tailings till they are
disposed off in rivers and land fills into fuel as efficient
as imported coal. In Australia, these briquettes have been
in use at thermal power stations for many years. In addition
to enhancing heat, it blocks any kind of smoke or smell being
emitted in the air, hence harmful greenhouse gases are not
emitted when coal is burnt. China is ahead of us in setting
up two briquetting plants to start with.
When this fuel is generated it can be sold in the Indian market
at $26 – 30 per tonne compared to the whopping global coal
price of $115 – 130 per tonne. The cost of importing this
technology is much less than that of imported coal and will
last till our R & D discovers a still better technology.
R R Suri Bhasin, on e-mail
Business Standard – Tuesday 12 September 2006
Coal imports
This refers to “Ratan Tata against iron ore exports” (September
7). I agree with Tata and propose that he along with other
steel majors, private and public consumers of coal, Central
and state ministers, apply the same principle to low-grade
Indian coal, convert it to high – grade coal and cut down
imports.
We have 197 billion tones of coal reserves. The latest technology,
which helps improve efficiency of low-grade coal by about
eight times and makes it more eco-friendly, has already been
accepted and applied in China, Indonesia, New Zealand and
Australia. The technology helps lower pollution levels significantly,
and at the same time increase efficiency.
At present, we are importing about 16 million tones of coal
a year and using only 5 million tones of coal produced in
the country. Take the case of Indraprastha power station,
which uses 70 per cent of imported coal mixed with 30 per
cent coal from Bhopal.
It is high time we grow self sufficient in our energy requirements
and assist our fast growing economy with an assured supply
of coal. This can be done within a short period and with enormous
benefit to the exchequer.
R R Suri Bhasin, email
Economic Times – Tuesday 8 August 2006
Its destination India for clean coal technology
A CLEAN coal technology is on its way to India. Besides public
sector Coal India and SAIL, private companies like Tata Steel
and Tata Power are looking into the use of a briquetting technology
which will eliminate sulphur emissions from burning coal by
close to 100%.
With fuel prices escalating, coal is increasingly sought after
as a fuel. Even as India is not completely self sufficient
in the coal production, 20% of it is still produced in India
and various deposits such as those in Meghalaya remain ntapped
due to their high sulphur content.
This technology of converting coal, coal dust and coal washery
rejects into clean coal, will not only bring to India more
coal produce but being a cleaner technology will reduce carbon
dioxide emission while generating eight times more heat than
normal coal.
This will further reduce costs for any industry using this
clean coal as a fuel, the company claimed. When coal is mined
and cleaned, often some fine coal retains water, making coal
sticky and unfit for transportation. This rejected coal when
briquetted turns into normal lump which can be used as a fuel
with an organic binder.
This process eliminates the possibility of concentrated smoke
in addition to locking sulphur emissions. In India, it is
mandatory that all coal must be washed. When this is done
some impurities are collected in the ponds as tailings.
If not cleaned up these tailings that have sulphur content,
in contact with rain, lead to deterioration of water pipes
in the water catchment area due to formation of acids like
sulphuric acid. With briquetting, this waste is also taken
care of, the company official said.
The clean coal technology was showcased at the Rio De Janeiro
Earth Conference as part of Australia’s contribution to the
greener world.
While Australia has already been using briquetted coal in
its power stations and steel mills, China has undertaken this
technology in its quest to reduce sulphur emissions before
the Beijing Olympics due in 2008.
– Neha Kohli, New Delhi
THE HINDU – Monday 12 July 2004
Beyond coal
Sir, -- The Union Ministry of Coal may be satisfied with
Coal India’s claim for raising the price after two years and
still keeping the price below the international level (The
Hindu, June 16) but that is no consolation when the R and
D of the Ministry could have provided an alternative fuel
in the same period.
Today China, Indonesia and New Zealand have introduced a
new technology which produces eco-friendly fuel more efficient
than coal at half the price for both industrial and domestic
use.
This fuel can be made available in India immediately and
its technology used to set up manufacturing plants which will
not only provide this fuel but also help in removing pollutant
agents from the environment.
ASHOK KUMAR BHASIN
FOUNDER CHAIRMAN
HINDUSTAN GLOBAL RESOURCES
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