JSPL to begin coal production in Indonesia

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) plans to begin production from two of its overseas coal mines in Indonesia and Mozambique by month-end, zeenews.com reported.

Both the mines are strategically important for Naveen Jindal-led firm, which is aiming at 20 million ton steel making capacity by 2020 and power generation capacity of over 21,000 MW (together with its subsidiary Jindal Power).

"By August-end, the production will begin in Indonesia. We have obtained most of the (regulatory) clearances. We will also begin production from Mozambique by month-end," company's Vice Chairman and Head, Global Ventures, Vikrant Gujral said.

In Indonesia, the steelmaker has a thermal coal mine with reserves of over 250 million tons. Besides that, it has 1.2 billion tons of coking and thermal coal reserves in Mozambique, for which the company had obtained mining licence in February 2009.

Gujral, however, added that the company is planning production in smaller quantities in the first year from both the coal mines overseas so that it gets stabilized and other related infrastructure can be put in place.

"First thing is to take the coal out, check the quality and moisture content and set up the logistics facilities. At this moment, we are not talking about quantity, we want production to stabilise first," he said.

According to Gujral, the quality of coal at the Indonesian mine is very good as it has a gross calorific value between 4200 to 5300 Kcal/kg, while ash content is between 4 and 14 percent.

"This can be used in thermal power plants but we want production to stabilise first before taking any decision on shipping it to India (for company's power plants)," he said.(*)