外媒：NMDC为竞标Atlas铁矿石项目寻求合作伙伴

概述：NMDC发言人表示，由于澳大利亚新政府关于资源税的问题，他们将寻求合作方式来对Atlas的矿山项目竞标。NMDC将日本神户制钢定为合作伙伴目标之一。Atlas将卖出其Pilbara地区的矿山股份的50%到80%，该地区预计有20亿吨铁矿石的储量。

NMDC may rope in Kobe for Australian ore project

Mining major NMDC Ltd is scouting for partners to take its proposal to bid for Atlas Iron’s Ridley iron ore project in Australia.

Though the selloff plans of Atlas are said to be going through a rough patch due to the iron ore taxation issues in Australia, NMDC is planning to rope in a partner and bid for the project.

“We have been working on this plan to pick up stake in Ridley iron ore project. A Saudi Arabia-based company, ABS Consulting, was talking to us for partnering. But they have not moved on this further. We are evaluating some other prospective partners including Kobe Steel of Japan,” S Thiagarajan, director (finance) of NMDC, told DNA.

After finalising an ally, NMDC is planning to take consortium approach for bidding to pick up stake in Ridley iron ore project.

Atlas Iron Ltd, the Perth-based company is looking to sell 50-80% of the mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The mine is estimated to have about two billion tonnes of iron ore reserves.

“The money required for picking up stake in the project is still not known. However, we know that it is a capital-intensive proposal and the prospective partner would also take the responsibility of bringing in the required funds,” Thiagarajan said.

Market estimates peg the requirement at about $1.36 billion or Rs 5,000 crore. NMDC on its own has cash reserves of about Rs 14,000 crore.

“Cash won’t be a problem for acquisition,” Thiagarajan said.

Earlier NMDC has teamed up with ABS Consulting and Boulder Steel Ltd to buy a 15% stake in the mine.

NMDC already has a tie-up with Kobe Steel for setting up a 0.5 million tonne iron nugget plant at Sponge Iron India Ltd (SIIL) facility at Paloncha in Andhra Pradesh.

However, the Perth-based company is currently engaged in an anti-tax campaign in Australia and said to be keeping the sell off on hold till the elections in Australia are over by this month-end.

According to reports, the company is unhappy with the taxation on iron ore and coal.

Currently, there is a 30% tax on iron ore and coal mining earnings in Australia. Thisis being seen as exorbitant though it was scaled down from the earlier 40%

(来源：Daily News & Analysis)