By: Creamer media

The company’s Minas de Revuboe project in Mozambique’s Moatize coal basin holds about 850-million tons of reserves and could produce 250-million tons of saleable coal used in steelmaking, JSW Steel said in a statement late Friday.

JSW Steel plans to develop the mine in phases. The first stage is expected to take about two and a half years and produce 2.4-million tons of coal a year, according to the statement. Its proximity to ports could make the project a strategic supplier to other Indian steel plants.

As the company plans to increase its annual steelmaking capacity to 50-million tons in India by 2030, the asset will help secure and diversify raw-material supplies while cushioning JSW from volatile global coking coal prices, the company said.

With India’s domestic reserves limited, captive overseas sourcing has become a strategic priority, it said.