Three public sector mineral exploration and production firms -- National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) -- have signed a joint venture (JV) agreement to acquire and extract from mineral assets abroad.
The new JV will be called Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) and will handle mineral exploration and acquisition overseas. “Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL)... has mandate for acquisition, exploration and processing of strategic minerals abroad for commercial use and for supplying to meet the domestic requirements,” said an official statement from the Ministry of Mines, under which all three companies are operated.
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. “KABIL will ensure mineral security of the nation, and will help in realizing the overall objective of import substitution,” said Joshi at the event. According to officials, the equity contribution in KABIL will be split between the three, with NALCO holding 40 per cent and HCL and MECL holding 30 per cent each.
The company will initially focus on securing strategic mineral assets identified by the authorities. “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,” the ministry said. Earlier in February 2019, NITI Aayog had cleared the proposal from the three central PSUs to form the JV.