Australian copper miner moves into Indian coal

Australian-listed mining company India Resources Ltd will enter the Indian coal sector following an agreement with Bankura DRI Ltd, a consortium of six sponge iron manufacturers who have been allocated a coal block in Ranigunj in West Bengal. IRL managing director Arvind Mishra said. reserves are estimated at 95 Mt. His company is already operating in India, mining copper at the re-opened Surda mines of Hindustan Copper in Jharkhand where production has touched 37,000 t.

IRL has applied for licences for new copper mines near Udaipur in Rajasthan, besides applying for 15 exploration licences for iron ore in Orissa and Jharkhand. It has also applied for diamond exploration licences in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “We are already involved heavily in exploration activities in lead and zinc,” Mr Mishra said, as quoted by The Hindu.