Mercator to buy one more coal mine from Kyra Putra

Mon, Aug 21 2011
By Vikas Srivastav

Mumbai: Mercator Lines plans to acquire another 25 million tonne coal mine in Indonesia from a local company Karya Putra Borneo in next two months for Rs 250 crore investment.

Atul Agarwal, MD, Mercator Lines, told Financial Chronicle, “We are in talks with Indonesian company Karya Putra Borneo for a coal mine with capacity in excess of 25 million tonne. The discussion is in final stages and we hope to conclude the deal in next one or two months.”

The company aims to take its total mining capacity to more than one million tonne while increasing the trading to around 8 million tonne from current 7 million tonne this financial year, said another senior company official.

The company is concluding the acquisition and expects the production to start from this mine in the fourth quarter of this financial year.

Mercator Lines currently holds 100 per cent in two mines in Petangis with proven reserves of 15 million tonne and 50 per cent in mines in Kalimantan proven reserve of 30 million tonne. This would now include the 45 million tonne acquired recently.

Coal business is expected to play a significant role in the companies overall business growth after it contributed around 45 per cent to the topline and around 50 per cent to the profit before tax in fiscal 2010-11.

Kotak Securities in a report said, “Going forward, Mercator would primarily concentrate on the coal business which would act as a hedge for the company against the cyclical shipping business.” The brokerage firm estimates the company will mine around 1.26 million tonne per annum from the current around 8,50,000 tonnes.

(sourced MyDigitalFC)

Mercator to boost Indonesia coal output

Wed Mar 9, 2011 9:12am GMT

* Mercator traded 4 million tonnes Indonesian coal in 2010
* Oorja mine reaches 1.5 million tonnes output
* New high quality coal mine will add 2 million tonnes

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Reuters) - India's Mercator Lines Ltd (MRCT.BO: Quote) is to boost its Indonesian coal production to 3.5 million tonnes a year with a new mine, a Mercator executive said on Wednesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a Coaltrans conference in New Delhi, he said Mercator's Ooorja mine in Petangis, East Kalimantan had also grown its output to 1.5 million tonnes a year of 5,400 GAD coal, which is largely shipped to India.

"We traded 4 million tonnes of Indonesian coal last year including our own mine production, the rest we bought from smaller players," the Mercator executive said.

"We mostly sell to traders who then export, only about 30 percent of our output is sold directly to Indian end-users," he said.

The new mine will begin operations this year and produce 2 million tonnes a year of 6,000 GAD coal.

The mine has 40 million tonnes of reserves, he added.

Mercator, India's second-largest private shipping firm, diversified into coal mining four years ago.

"The quality of coal we are producing is ideal for the Indian market but the new mine has higher quality coal, which could go to India or elsewhere in Asia," he said.

Mercator has mostly shipped in 50,000 tonne vessels but because it is one of the world's largest owners of gear grabber panamax vessels the company plans to graduate to panamax loading.

"This gives us a freight advantage with costs," he said.

(Reporting by Jackie Cowhig; Editing by Alison Birrane,sourced Thomson Reuters)

Mercator Lines To Invest RS 200-250 Crore on Coal Mine in INDONESIA

Thursday, 03 February 11
Economic Times reported that Mercator Lines, the HK Mittal-controlled shipping-to-mines major, will invest about 200-250 crore (US$ 43.825 - 54.781 million) in developing a coal mine in the Batuah region of Kalimantan province in Indonesia as part of its strategy to increase its presence in the high-margin mining industry.

The Mumbai-based company will invest via a JV with an Indonesian firm PT United Coal to develop the infrastructure for the mining project, while the ownership of the mine will continue to remain with the Indonesian company, said people familiar with the development.
When contacted, chairman H K Mittal said: "We already own four coal mines in Indonesia and are keen to build our ownership here." Total reserves in the Indonesian mines owned by Mercator Lines is about 70 million tonnes and the company plans to raise the total deposits to 100 million tonnes.

Ownership of coal mines in Indonesia and Australia has become a popular trend among the Indian and Chinese companies as they make a beeline to own these resources to feed an ever-growing demand for electricity in their domestic markets.
(1 INR = 0.0219129 USD http://www.xe.com) Source:Economic Times