NMDC to team up with South Africa's Kopanao for mining ventures

National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) will team up with South Africa's Kopanao Ke Metla Investment Company for acquiring coal, iron ore and manganese properties in African nations.

State-owned NMDC is likely to form a joint venture company with the South African company in order to acquire coal, iron ore and manganese properties, company sources said, adding the deal is likely to be signed soon.

The board of NMDC has approved the matter and the company is awaiting reply from its African partner, according to its chairman and managing director Rana Som.

Kopanao Ke Metla Investment Company is the investment arm of South African trade union federation, The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which facilitates foreign investments in African countries.

NMDC has already received a couple of proposals from companies in South Africa, Armenia, Australia and Brazil to form joint ventures for taking up iron ore mining.

NMDC, which is under the administrative control of the ministry of steel, Government of India, is involved in the exploration of a wide range of minerals, including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, lime stone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, beach sands etc.

It is the country's single largest iron ore producer and exporter, currently producing 30 million tonnes of iron ore from three mines - Bailadila Deposit-14/11C, Bailadila Deposit-5,10/11A (Chhattisgarh State)  and Donimalai Iron Ore Mines (Karnataka).

NMDC also owns the only mechanised diamond mine in the country with a capacity of 1.00 lakh carats/annum at Panna (Madhya Pradesh). The mining activities, however, have been held up as per the directives of MPPCB  with effect 22 August 2005.