NMDC MAY BUY TWO ORE MINES IN ARMENIA
Livemint
July 9 2008
India
India’s biggest iron ore producer is looking at forming several joint
ventures to acquire and develop mines overseas
Debarati Roy / Bloomberg
Mumbai: India’s biggest iron ore producer National Mineral Development
Corp., or NMDC, is looking at acquiring iron ore mines overseas,
including two in Armenia, chairman Rana Som said on Wednesday.
"We are looking at forming several joint ventures to acquire and
develop iron ore mines overseas," Som said in a phone interview from
Hyderabad, where NMDC is based.
"Spice Energy approached us with existing mining assets in Armenia
with one deposit of 300 million tonnes (mt) and another of 75mt. These
deposits are magnetite deposits. We have signed an agreement with
Spice saying that we are interested in having a joint venture to
explore iron ore on the basis of 50:50 partnership," he said. "The
total amount that will be spent will be about $500 million (Rs2,155
crore)." Speaking on ore prices, Som said an NMDC team will visit
Japan from 26 July to negotiate prices with customers.