Gujarat NRE to acquire BHP Billiton's Elouera Mine

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd today said it has signed an agreement with Illawarra Coal Holdings Pty Ltd (ICHPL), a subsidiary of BHP Billiton Ltd, for the acquisition of Elouera Colliery in NSW, Australia.

The deal will be done through ICHPL's Australian subsidiary Gujarat NRE FCGL Pty Ltd.

The mine has large reserves of premium grade Hard Coking Coal available. The company will also acquire mining equipment and freehold title to land associated with the mining lease along with the mining lease.

This will be the third coking coal mine to be acquired by ICHPL which will double the short term production of coal from the current one million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

''Apart from providing quality infrastructure and mining equipment for Gujarat's Southern Coalfields production strategy, including a private rail link, it gives the company additional coking coal reserves,'' said Gujarat NRE Coke Chairman Arun Jagatramka.

''The acquisition also means that Avondale should be able to come into production much sooner than we had anticipated.'' ICHPL is the country's largest non captive manufacturer of met coke with operating coking coal mines in Australia. It has recently rolled out plans to set-up two 15 MW power plants by using the sensible heat of the flue gas generated from its coke oven batteries at Bhachau, Gujarat and Dharwad, Karnataka.

UNI