After acquiring Australian firm Legacy Iron Ore last year for about INR 92 crore, NMDC is eyeing to acquire two more properties Ridley iron ore deposit of Atlas Mining and Wonarah phosphate reserve of Minemakers Ltd in the island continent.

A source close to the development said that “The due diligence for both the properties are on... It will take about one or two month to complete the process.”

The Ridley project, 100% owned by Atlas Mining, contains 970 million tonnes of high grade iron ore reserves and can produce 330 mt of ore with 68.3% Fe content for over 30 years. The other targeted property, Wonarah deposits of Minemakers, is one of the largest underdeveloped phosphate reserves in Australia, with an estimated resource of 1.26 billion tonnes at 12% phosphate.

NMDC had signed an MoU with Minemakers in June, 2011 for acquiring 50% stake in Wonarah phosphate deposits.

Besides this, the Indian miner is also looking at acquiring a producing coking coal mine in Russia. The mine is estimated to have 100 mt of reserves.

Sources said that “All these negotiations and due diligence processes are on. By March, you will see some of the deals getting matured.”

(Sourced from BL)