Bhubaneswar: In a bid to acquire strategic mineral assets abroad National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL), signed a Joint Venture Agreement to form Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL).
KABIL has mandate for acquisition, exploration and processing of strategic minerals abroad for commercial use and for supplying to meet the domestic requirements.
The Joint Venture Agreement amongst the three stakeholders was signed by Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, NALCO, Santosh Sharma, CMD, HCL and Ranjit Rath, CMD, MECL in the presence of Prahallad Joshi, Union Minister for Mines, Coal & Parliamentary Affairs.
Joshi appreciated the efforts of NALCO and the other two PSUs and said that KABIL will ensure mineral security of the nation, and will help in realizing the overall objective of import substitution.
Anil Mukim, Secretary of Mines, Dr K Rajeswara Rao, Additional Secretary, Mines and Anil Kumar Nayak, Joint Secretary, Mines were also present on the occasion along with other senior officials of Ministry of Mines and Coal.
It may be mentioned that the contribution of Equity proportion among NALCO, HCL and MECL will be in the ratio of 40%:30%:30% respectively. Twelve strategic minerals have been identified and the initial focus will be on Lithium and Cobalt. Preliminary due-diligence of identified assets shall be initiated soon.
Earlier in Feb 2019, NITI Aayog had cleared the proposal to form the JVC by the three CPSEs to acquire minerals which are not available in India. KABIL will be amongst a handful of Companies in the Country for acquisition of mineral assets abroad.
