Essar Energy gets final nod to develop coal mine

Essar Energy said it has received the final forest approval for its Aries coal mine in Indonesia. This is the final approval required before commencing mine development. Essar Energy acquired 100 per cent interest in the Aries mine in April 2010 for $118 million. A Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) compliant resource assessment has estimated mine reserves at about 64 million tonnes with an annual potential production of four million tonnes of average gross calorific value of 5,400- 5,500 Kcal/kg. Essar said this was sufficient to provide dedicated supply to its 1,200 MW Salaya I plant in Gujarat. The company has commenced construction of support roads and port infrastructure and expects ‘first coal' to be available in 9-12 months. Currently, fuel for the Salaya I is being got under a fixed price coal contract with Essar Shipping and Logistics, Cyprus. Unit 1 of Salaya I (600 MW), has begun commercial operations and unit 2 (also 600 MW) is nearing completion.