NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal could lose ownership of two West Siberian coal mines if he fails to boost production, the governor of the local Russian region has warned.
"If your team is not able to stabilise production at these facilities, then we propose that you hand them over without compensation," warned Aman Tuleyev, the governor of Kemerovo region where the two coal mines are located.
In a letter to Mittal, the chief executive of the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, Tuleyev threatened to seize his Siberian coal assets in case of closure of the two major mines. In 2008 ArcelorMittal acquired three Siberian coal mines from its former Arcelor bid rival Severstal.
In March, due to global slump, ArcelorMittal said it may temporarily close its Anzherskaya and Pervomaiskaya mines and introduce voluntary retirement programme and redeploy some key mining personnel to the third Beryozovskaya mine.
Tuleyev threatened to revoke ArcelorMittal's license for the mining in the huge coal deposit of Zhernovskoe in the Russian coal mining region, the Kommersant daily reported.
"I, with full responsibility declare, I will not allow the closure of our mines," Tuleyev wrote to Mittal and threatened to revoke ArcelorMittal's license for the mining in the huge coal deposit of Zhernovskoe.
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