NMDC, the state-owned mining major, is speeding up the process of exploring opportunities in coal and iron ore mining in India and overseas.
The company, which has been eyeing these opportunities for sometime now, has called for empanelment of merchant bankers primarily with an objective of keeping a team of professionals ready for doing the evaluation part of these opportunities and reducing the time in taking the proposals forward.
“We have been getting several proposals. But so far we are conducting the preliminary studies and evaluation on our own in-house. Now, we want to assign the job to the merchant bankers,” S Thiagarajan, NMDC’s director (finance), told DNA.
The company has been eyeing opportunities in coal and iron ore mining in Australia and Brazil in addition to the domestic market.
“We need more iron ore and coal. Our steel plant too is coming up in Chhattisgarh. So these are essential ingredients for us. We are also a major supplier of ore to various steel companies in India and abroad. We are keen on expanding our presence and we also have certain proposals on hand,” he said.
According to him, the company is capable of investing anywhere between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 4,500 crore and funding had never been a constraint.
The merchant bankers selected by the company would be responsible for conducting due diligence on the company’s behalf and advising the companies in exploiting the opportunities and acquisitions.
The company on its own too has been planning a major expansion in taking the iron ore capacity from the existing 30 million tonnes to 50 million tonnes. The company also has a plan to invest about Rs 12,000-14,000 crore for its expansion including a steel plant. The capital expenditure is expected to be met through its internal accruals.
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