NMDC, India’s largest miner, is in talks to acquire a controlling stake in Brazil-based mining company Greystone Mineracao do Brasil for about $1 billion, which would include the cost of building infrastructure to develop the mines.
Greystone owns six exploratory licences in the state of Bahia in Brazil and is also developing a $3-billion iron ore project in neighbouring Uruguay, for which it is seeking a partner. Last year, NMDC had been in talks for another Brazilian iron ore reserve owned by Ferrous Resources. The talks did not conclude successfully.
NMDC, as part of the five-member state-run consortium ICVL, has been scouting the globe to buy out coal assets that could be shipped back to India for feeding the steel and power industries.The Brazil acquisition is part of NMDC’s global raw material quest, which has included Australia for iron ore and rock phosphate, and the US and Russia for coking coal.
