Business Standard teported that Anglo Australian mining major Rio Tinto is keen to revive its USD 2 billion joint venture with Odisha Mining Corporation even as the state run miner is no more interested in the pact.
The Australian High Commissioner Mr Peter N Varghese, who is scheduled to visit the state later this week along with Sam Walsh, Chief Executive Iron Ore, Rio Tinto has sought appointments with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chief Secretary BK Patnaik to hold discussion on the issue.
Mr Verghese wrote to Patnaik that “I would also like to request a meeting with you in Bhubaneswar on 19 or 20 October. I would be accompanied by Mr Sam Walsh CEO Iron Ore and Australia executive director of Rio Tinto.”
The envoy, who will be on a two day visit to Odisha to attend the Oz Fest Indigenous Cultural Concert in Bhubaneswar, said, Rio Trinto is strongly committed to developing the iron ore sector in Odisha through its joint venture with OMC. Rio Tinto had entered into a JV with OMC on February 24, 1995 to develop Gandhamardhan and Malangtoli iron ore deposits in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts with a mining capacity of 25 million tonnes per annum. Seventeen years after it had inked a joint venture pact, OMC recently said that it is no longer keen to revive the project.
Mr Saswat Mishra CMD of OMC said that “In the recently held board meeting it was decided that the JV pact will not be lucrative for the corporation. We have already informed the state government regarding our intent. It is now going to be the government’s call whether it wants to renew the project or not.”
The mining pact ran into trouble after differences cropped up between the partners over the export of ore. The anglo Australian miner, which was to hold 51 per cent stake in the JV, was keen to export half of the iron ore mined. OMC, on the other hand, emphasized on the meeting the raw material needs of the domestic steel industries. These differences prompted OMC to move for cancellation of the pact as per advice of the Solicitor General of India resulting in legal battle between the two partners.
Source - Business Standard
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