UltraTech looking for coal mines in Indonesia, South Africa

Mumbai: Aditya Birla Group company UltraTech Cement Ltd is looking to acquire coal mines in Indonesia and South Africa to meet the increasing coal demands of group companies, its president and chief financial officer KC Birla said.

''At present, we are importing one million tonne of coal. The current prices of coal are $300. So we are open to acquiring coal mines," Birla said at a conference on the sidelines of its annual general meeting.

Coal accounts for 27 per cent of the cost of cement manufacturing.

Kumar Mangalam Birla , chairman of the Aditya Birla Group and UltraTech, said UltraTech has already spent Rs2,150 crore to add 90 million tonnes capacity and would be spending another Rs2,050 crore in the next three years.

Of the total investment, about Rs525 crore would go into a 92 MW thermal power plant at its Gujarat Cement Works. The group would set up three more thermal power projects with total generating capacity of 135 MW at its Andhra Pradesh Cement Works, Hirmi Cement Works in Chhattisgarh and Awarpur Cement Works in Maharashtra, he said.

The captive power plants would provide the company with 270 MW of thermal power, meeting 80 per cent of its needs against 22 per cent now, he pointed out.