India seeks more minerals assets from South Africa

India today asked South Africa to consider giving more mineral assets to Coal India Limited (CIL) in view of its growing coal requirement to fire its thermal power turbines.

India today asked South Africa to consider giving more mineral assets to Coal India Limited (CIL) in view of its growing coal requirement to fire its thermal power turbines. It also suggested that both the nations should join hands in promoting clean coal technologies.

“I met South African energy minister Susan Shabangu in Johannesburg and suggested that both India and her country can enhance mutual cooperation on coal. CIL is interested in securing more mineral assets there and it has the expertise and wherewithal to do it,on which we can cooperate,” coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told this newspaper over telephone.

Jaiswal who is leading a high-level delegation of his ministry’s top brass including CIL chief Partha S Bhattacharya is already concerned that the supply-demand gap back home would be around 83 million tonnes by the terminal year of the 11th Plan period. The coal ministry wanted CIL to expand in South Africa as in the neighbouring Mozambique it hsa got two coal mines in the country’s Northwestern Tete province.

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The delegation talked at length on enhancing further cooperation on Coal-to-Oil fuel programme,in which South Africa has acquired considerable expertise. Jaiswal also visited the world’s oldest CTL plant being run by Sasol in the country’ Mpumalanga province.

“India is committed to introduce clean coal technology in view of increasing environmental concerns and South Africa being the owner of oldest and largest ‘Coal to Oil’ plant could assist India to transfer the technology in other mining projects also,” he said.

The coal to liquid technology is currently being applied in two domestic coal blocks of 1.5 million capacity,an official statement said. The Indian delegation expressed keenness in seeking greater cooperation with South Africa on clean technology in power generation and also possibly in syn-gas as a feed stock for chemical sector.