Nalco to buy 25% in MEC Coal by March
A member of the company’s board of directors told Financial Chronicle Nalco has already shortlisted MEC Coal for supplying 8 million tonnes of coal per annum (mtpa) of which 4.5 million tonnes will be used in Indonesia while the remaining would be used in India. “To secure the steady supply of coal it is important that we buy stake in the company so that the contract is not cancelled mid-way. We are looking at acquiring around 24-25 per cent of stake in MEC Coal and are conducting due diligence for deciding the valuation. The entire procedure will be completed by March,” said the official.
Sanjay Jain, an analyst with Motilal Oswal, said buying stake helps in project economics and is always better so that the mining company will not be able to cancel the contract halfway. “Nalco will have a better say if they own some stake in the mining company. Also, it will help them in backward integration and the company can hedge prices if it has its own supply of coal,” said Jain.
MEC Coal won the Nalco contract by offering the lowest priced coal. MEC (Minerals. Energy. Commodities), led by its executive vice chairman Madhu Koneru, proposes to develop an integrated infrastructure complex in east Kalimantan, an under developed coal-rich province in Indonesia.
Two companies — MEC Coal and Bumi Muara Prasada — were bidding for the contract to supply coal to Nalco’s Rs 18,000 crore east Indonesia based-Kalimantan aluminium cum power project. PT Bumi Resources is one of the world’s largest coal producers and Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of the black gold.
MEC also claims to be developing an integrated heavy-haul rail transportation system and ship-loading jetty to ship the mined coal. PT Tekno Orbit Persada, a subsidiary of MEC Coal, located in the district of Muara Wahau, east Kutai Regency, east Kalimantan province has a mining concession containing Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) compliant resources of 1.5 billion tonnes of environmentally-friendly coal, the company said on its website.
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