Indian firm eyes Indonesia coal mines

India's National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) that have agreed to form a joint venture company have a keen interest in bidding for blocks in Indonesia and Australia as part of its plan to tap new coal mines, The Hindu reported Thursday.

?We are seriously looking at the two countries but I am unable to give definite details,? T Sankaralingam, CMD, a spokesperson for NTPC said on Wednesday.

Under the joint venture business plan, the company will tap new coal mines at home and overseas, with Indonesia and Australia as targeted countries. It will also build coal-based power plants in the country.

At the initial phase, the joint venture company has set an annual production target of 50 million tons of coal.

To meet the target, the company has identified several virgin coal blocks at home for exploitation, including those in Jarkhand, Orissa, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. (*)