National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), India’s largest iron ore miner, is currently involved in talks with overseas mining companies in regard to possible takeovers. NMDC Chairman Rana Som said the company had earmarked $500 million for overseas acquisitions this financial year.
As per the company they are pursuing two coal and two iron ore assets. The Chairman said that they were hoping to acquire two of these properties within the next 100 days. He added that they were looking at 4 – 5 assets in the US, Russia, Australia and Mozambique.
The Navratna-based firm has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Legacy Iron Ore, an Australian mineral exploration company. This deal which should be finalized by September will see NMDC gain a 50% stake in the Legacy Iron Ore Company.
NMDC is expanding its raw material base to feed its upcoming steel mills in the states of Karnataka and Chandigarh. It already has a 3 million tonne steel plant in the state of Chhattisgarh and it has intentions of building another mill by 2014 for which it will need raw material supplies.
The company which has been the worst hit due to the illegal mining activities in Karnataka for iron ore has said that small mining companies should be nationalized. The Chairman said that mining should always be done scientifically and that requires both scale and expertise. NMDC has always advocated that only big corporates or multinational companies and preferably PSUs should be involved in the mining business. Nationalisation of small mining companies would be in the interest of the nation he added.