Tata Power eyes Aussie, Indonesia coal mines
Friday, August 4 2006 - 12:48 AM WIB
Indian utility Tata Power Co Ltd is in talks to buy coal mines in Australia, Indonesia and South Africa to tie up fuel supplies for its proposed 15,000-megawatt capacity expansion, a top official said as quoted by Financial Express.
"We are in advanced talks for acquiring at least two mines," Adi Engineer, a director at Tata Power, said in an interview on Thursday. He did not give further detail.
Engineer said Tata Power had tied-up with Tata Steel Ltd, India's largest steel producer, to hunt for coal mines overseas.
Tata Power, which operates a 1,350-megawatt multi-fuel power plant in Trombay near Mumbai, is building a new 250-megawatt coal-fired project nearby.
"This new project will be operational within 26-28 months and will run on imported coal," Engineer said.
The company will import an additional one million tonnes of coal from Indonesia, to two million tonnes it buys now, he said.(*)