AMR Mineral Resources buys coal mine in Indonesia: Report

India?s AMR Construction (AMR) and a Malaysian businessman Bob Sundaram have formed a joint venture (JV), a coal mining company PT AMR Mineral Resources in Indonesia, The Economic Time reported Saturday.

AMR holds 70 percent in the JV company while Mr Sundaram holds the rest.

The JV company has acquired 1,700-hectare coal field in Indonesia and is eyeing more mines for acquisition. It is planning to bring 70 percent of the coal produced in Indonesia to India and the rest will be exported to China, said AM Reddy, CMD, AMR Construction.

?The company will invest $15 million to develop the recently acquired mine. Moreover, we have chalked out a plan to acquire more mines in the Middle East and the talks are progressing. Almost 70 percent of our production from Indonesia will be consumed by the power and cement plants in south India,? he said.

Indonesian coal is considered to have high calorie value and it had less ash and sulphur contents. Consequently, unlike domestic coal, investments on washeries would be considerably low, thus the coal price will be less,? said Reddy.

The major users of imported coal in south India will be thermal plants and cement plants on the coast. Private sector players have begun talks with AMR to work out long-term arrangements for supply of coal. (*)