BS reported that India Cements is set to acquire a coal mine in Indonesia for around USD 20 million. The company is taking the mine on a develop, operate and market model.

Mr N Srinivasan vice chairman & MD of India Cement said that the company would sign the agreement in two weeks. The mine would be for captive purpose. He added that initially it would produce 40,000 to 50,000 tonne a month and this would be ramped up to 100,000 tonne after one year. The company’s present requirement is around 800,000 tonne of coal per annum for cement alone. This is likely to go up by another 400,00 million in two to three years when its greenfield plant in Rajasthan and other expansion plans are complete.
He said that the company imports around 600,000 tonne of coal every year.

Mr Srinivasan said the company had identified ThyssenKrupp as an EPC partner for the two projects coming up in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The first project is expected to go on stream by March 2011 and second by September 2011. The two projects, with a capacity of 50 mega watt each involve a cost of around INR 500 crore.

(Sourced from Business Standards)