India Is Interested in Yakut Coal

A business delegation from the Indian mining companieshas arrivedin Yakutia. They plan to meet potential Russian partners and discussthe prospects of projectdevelopment in the Russian Far East, the tvbrics.com correspondent reports with the reference to news.ykt.ru.

"At the moment, the representatives of Indian companies are in NeryungriDistrict, they are going to study the production capacities of the coal-mining company "Kolmar", see the real possibilities of the enterprise, and later, negotiate cooperation in delivery of the high-valuable coking concentrateto India", said the CEO of ANO API Leonid Petukhov.

Joydeep Dasgupta, the Chief Engineer of Steel Authority of India Limited,duly appreciated the possibilities of the Yakut company.

"Despite remoteness and bad accessibility, your coal mining is highly developed, production is at a good level. We are going to consider all possibilities of further cooperation, and now, during the visit, discuss all issues connected with joint operation", said Joydeep Dasgupta.

One meeting with the Indian representatives of a coal-mining segment already took place in August. Those were the largest companies, and according to the results of the year, they extracted 680 million tons of coal.

"By 2025, they will have a big shortage of coking coal, and in view of this, guests from India are looking for the opportunities to satisfy their requirements of coal concentratein Russia ", noted Alexey Trufanov, the Associate Production Director and the Technical Director of CCKolmar LLC.

The Indian delegation did not limit themselves to presentations and documents. They went down to mines and visited concentrating factories, studied the objects of the Russian coal companyand their know-hows in detail. The Kolmar Company possessesa deep-water port and good logistics. Right at the meeting with the enterprise representatives, the Indian delegation started talking about coal supply diversification and long-term cooperation.

Also, the business delegation from India expressed desire to have a look at theoperation of the Dolguchandeposit and even agreed upon the meeting with the management of the YakutugolCompany (affiliated structure of the MechelGroup).

The government of Yakutia promises the Indian companies to render comprehensive assistance. In particular, the director of the Regional Agency for Investment Attraction and Export SupportAlexander Kondrashin assured the guests from India that the Russian party will help with the organization of export deliveries, andannounced the possibility of projects in the field of metallurgy based on the Yakut deposits.