ICVL acquires Rio Tinto coal mine in Mozambique for $ 50 million

The international coal company Ventures LTD (ICVL) has agreed to buy the Benga mine in Mozambique, owned by Rio Tinto. Upon completion of the transaction, the Group will produce up to 13 million tonnes of coking coal per year.

Australia's Rio Tinto has agreed to sell its Benga mine and other facilities in Tete province to ICVL for just $ 50 million, in part due to a failure to obtain permission to barge coking coal down the Zambezi River in Mozambique. Although these assets were acquired by Rio Tinto for $ 4 billion from Riversdale Mining in 2011.

CS Verma, chairman of the ICVL, said they are in a position to take out the coking coal. ICVL will use infrastructure in Mozambique to streamline operations and develop railways and ports to make the project much better than it is now. The deal will be closed within two months. Tata Steel of India owns 35 percent of the production at the Benga mine with a production of about 5 million tonnes.

ICVL plans to increase the supply of coking coal to India to 60 percent once production of 12-13 million tons is reached. The rest of the production will be destined for Tata Steel in accordance with the deal. This is the first acquisition made by the international company ICVL, which consists of SAIL Coal of India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, National Minerals Development Corp and National Thermal Power Corp LLC.