The Hindu Business Line : Global majors to take part in mining summit

In view of the fact that proper development of the minerals and mining sector plays a crucial role in promoting the country's economic growth, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has decided to make an all-out effort to make the 7th International Mining & Machinery Exhibition (IMME-2004) a success. Specifically, the effort will be to enable foreign and domestic investors and experts to get together and conduct business.

The IMME-2004, coupled with a two-day international seminar on `India Mining Summit', is to be held in the city from November 24 to 27, on an area of 11,000 square metres. South Africa has agreed to participate as the " partner country."

The exhibition is slated to attract over 300 exhibitors from India and overseas.

The governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, Russia and the UK have shown keen interest in setting up country pavilions, while high-level participation from leading domestic and multinational companies such as Atlas Copso, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), L&T, Volvo, Cummins, Mcnally Bharat, Bagrodia, Rexroth Bosch Group, Sandvik Smith and Tega Industries will provide the fair with opportunities that the industry has to offer against the backdrop of the Union Government's pro-growth policies in the mining/ mineral processing sector.

Mr V.R.S. Natarajan, Chairman of the fair committee, told presspersons here that the Indian mineral industry needed to catch up and bridge the technological gaps of the last few decades. Technology transfer/tie-ups are vital in several areas, notably smelting and refining, geological prospecting, mineral processing, mineral beneficiation, transport and waste recovery. Therefore, advanced technologies are particularly needed to reduce the amount of waste, which contains valuable mineral components in copper, nickel, lead, gold and antimony ores.

Mr Natarajan, who is also the Chairman of BEML, said that IMME-2004 would provide an appropriate platform for the domestic mining community to attract the leading world-class organisations and come across the technological advancement in mining sector taking place worldwide.

However, he urged the Union Government to encourage profit-making State-owned coal companies to invest in a big way in Greenfield coal projects. Such investment is safe now and would yield returns as the demand and supply in the country gap is widening, while international prices of all varieties of coal are travelling in the northern direction. He was confident that private investors would take interest in the coal mining sector provided virgin coal blocks, along with infrastructure facilities and accessibility of land, were offered to them.

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