core sector communique

Gujarat NRE – Surging Ahead

It has been rightly said in one of the commentaries on Gujarat NRE that the group has been the living embodiment of the slogan – when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. The company has a unique distinction of turning old mines into new, giving a region a new lease of life and more importantly contributing to the economy and employment of the region in a big way. And all this has happened in a span of last 5-6 years in Australia by an Indian company. Indeed this has been a great success story of Indo-Australian relationship and the credit definitely goes to Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Chairman of the group, who considers his newly built house in Wollongong in New South Wales as his second home, having performed the Laxmi Puja this Diwali with the same vigor and religiousness as he has been doing back here in India.

Gujarat NRE, the largest independent met coke manufacturer in India and the only Indian company to own and operate coking coal mines in Australia has been recently taking confident strides in expansion of its coking coal asset in Australia. The company has been successful of achieving its target and meeting its schedule quite commendably. “We had 5 good news in last 3-4 weeks”, explained Mr Arun Jagatramka, which speaks about the upbeat mood down under.

In a recent development, Gujarat NRE Coking Coal Ltd, the Australian mining company has received New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission’s (NSW PAC) approval for its $62 million upgrade and expansion at its NRE Wongawilli mine west of Dapto.

Mr. Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Executive Chairman of Gujarat NRE commented that this news is another milestone for the Company and one more step forward towards the Company’s ultimate growth plan. It is indeed a great news for both the Company and its stakeholders with NSW PAC approvals for both the mines coupled with the recently availed US $100 million facility with Axis Bank Limited, Hong Kong, and thus the Company looks forward to continue its ongoing developmental activities. It is to be noted that Gujarat NRE is installing longwall mining at its NRE No1 mine and has received the NSW Planning Assessment Commission’s approval for its $122 million upgrade of existing infrastructure at NRE No.1 mine at Russell Vale

Further works approved include the augmenting, upgrading and use of the existing infrastructure at the mine, the extraction of remnant coal reserves within existing mine areas, the extraction of two million tonnes of coal a year from the Bulli and Wongawilli seams for up to five years, rail transportation of coal from the mine and rehabilitation of the site.

The NSW PAC made its decision after carefully considering the Department of Planning’s Assessment Report, including agency and public submissions, along with the recommended conditions of approval and associated documents.

Last month the company had showcased a state of the art longwall miner which it is going to commence and reintroduce in NRE No 1 mine in December this year. According to the company statement based on a study, the potential impact of the carbon tax is expected to be around $2.70 /tonne of coal produced. It is apparent that the direct impacts of the carbon tax will be minimized and this is not expected to impinge on further growth of the company.

Eying the comprehensive goal of 6 million tonnes per annum of production by 2015, the company is well on track to meet its forecast production of coking coal during 2012 from its Australian mines.