Wednesday, April 27,
It has been found that Bamiyan province of Afghanistan is rich in high grade iron ore and Indian steel companies look forward to obtain the exploration rights collectively.*
The 1.8 billion tonne Hajigak iron ore mines lies in the Bamiyan province of Afghanistan and has a very high ferrous content of 68 percent. These reserves are among the most coveted reserves of the world and it gives the country a best possible way to re-build it-self post war.
This January, the Hamid Karzai government put the exploration rights to the mine up for an open bid. It attracted some of the biggest mining and steel firms including Vale of Brazil and China Metallurgical Group. But the biggest interest came from Indians. 15 of the 22 firms that expressed an interest in tapping the mines are Indian.
Indian firms are exploring the possibility of bidding as a single consortium. Delighted by such a thought, the Indian Government has promised to fund 15% of the acquisition corpus.
The industry veterans say that a joint bid in Afghanistan will work like a pilot project for Indian companies to co-operate in matters like global sourcing of raw materials and expanding the market for steel. “If this arrangement for the Afghanistan bid works out, it will help us expand its scope in many more ways,” says Mr. Verma, chairman of SAIL.
While NMDC, India’s largest iron ore miner, will lead the Indian consortium, the partners such as SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and Essar will get the allocation of resources as per the investment they bring.
If all goes well at the final opening of bids in August, India hopes to use the Hajigak mines as a gateway to play a role in Afghanistan’s transformation.
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