India’s quest for coal just beginning
By Mineweb · January 17, 2012 · 9:39 am ·
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By Shivom Seth
In September last year, Coal India’s plans to buy coal mines abroad hit a major stumbling block. the country’s coal minister said his ministry was not keen on the firm acquiring foreign assets, saying he would rather it focus on local production of the fuel. But, in the early days of January 2012, the world’s largest listed coal miner by capacity was back on the prowl for overseas mining assets.
Though imported coal costs at least 60% more than the domestically mined fuel, with almost zero growth in output, officials at Coal India have been forced to rethink the strategy in order to bridge the domestic shortfall and have earmarked $1.16 billion for coal mine buys.
