Acquisition to feed steel plants, power projects in India

Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd (MIEL), India's second-largest coal-based sponge iron producer, is set to soon acquire majority stake in a 25-million tonne (mt) coal mine in Colombia. The Rs 1,960-crore MIEL wishes to feed its steel and captive power plants in India using the coal made available through the acquisition. “Talks are on for the acquisition; annual production capacity of the mine is 50,000 tonnes per annum,” said N C Jha, chief executive officer of Monnet’s mining business, without divulging financial details. The former Coal India chairman said the working mine had reserves of both coking and non-coking coal and the deal was likely to be clinched in a month or two.