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Kolkata, Nov. 6 Essel Mining and Industries Ltd, an Aditya Birla group outfit, is looking to acquire overseas mining assets during the current economic downturn.

The Rs 3,000-crore company has eight million tonnes existing iron ore mining operations in Orissa in India and has recently expressed its interest to Coal India for development and operation of high-capacity underground mines.

“The global meltdown in commodity prices has also brought down the mining asset value substantially. We expect such asset prices to rule at low levels for the next 12-18 months,” Mr Ravi Kastia, group mining head and Managing Director of Essel Mining, said, adding that the company was looking forward to grab the opportunity.

“We will look forward to destinations having low country risks such as Australia and Canada for such acquisitions,” he added.

Mr Kastia was talking to newspersons on the sidelines of the Ninth International Mining & Machinery Exhibition here on Thursday.

On the company’s near-term performance outlook, he said that while the meltdown in spot prices of iron ore has affected the topline during the last three weeks, an upward correction in prices was expected. Essel exports nearly half of its total production at spot prices.

“Barring the aberrations of the last few years, spot iron ore prices always ruled marginally below the benchmark Australian prices. Following the meltdown, spot prices are now ruling 30 per cent below the benchmark. As Chinese demand continues, we are expecting spot prices to firm up from its present levels,” he said.

Apart from interests in the mining sector, Essel has ferroalloys production facility and wind power generation facilities in Gujarat.

More Stories on : Overseas Investments | Minerals

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