'Kabil' to explore strategic minerals overseas within next few months

"Till date, Kabil has not started functioning as several approvals were required before finalising the JV. As of now, the JV agreement has been finalised by the companies' respective boards. All the three companies will probably be signing the agreement in the next month (June)," HCL's Chairman and Managing Director Santosh Sharma said.

Kolkata: Proposed joint venture (JV) Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (Kabil) by three PSUs could acquire its first overseas assets for strategic minerals within next few months as the entity is expected to kick-start its formal function soon, an official said on Thursday.

The National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), the Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Copper Ltd, which had signed an MoU in 2017 to form the JV entity, are expected to sign the final agreement within June this year, the official said.

"Till date, Kabil has not started functioning as several approvals were required before finalising the JV. As of now, the JV agreement has been finalised by the companies' respective boards. All the three companies will probably be signing the agreement in the next month (June)," HCL's Chairman and Managing Director Santosh Sharma told reporters here.

The proposed company was supposed to identify, explore, acquire, develop and process strategic minerals overseas for commercial use and to meet domestic supply needs. It is expected to deal in 13 odd strategic minerals like lithium, tungsten, cobalt and others that are either not available in the country or the quantity available is lower than the requirement.

"Within the coming six months or so, Kabil may acquire the first asset. We are doing homework and we have visited Chile, Peru and Bolivia and tried to explore the possibility," Sharma said.

HCL and MECL will hold 33 per cent while Nalco will hold a 34 per cent stake in the JV company.

According to Sharma, the JV would help in the formation of a joint working group, which would be empowered to deal with government-to-government (G2G) deals relating to the sourcing of rare minerals.