Thiess won a $5.5 billion mine development and coal mining contract in India. The company will develop and operate the greenfield Pakri Barwadih coal mine for NTPC Ltd. which is a Government of India enterprise and the nation’s largest electricity generator. This contract is one of the largest ever awarded by NTPC.
Pakri Barwadih will be the first of six mines NTPC intends to develop to provide low cost coal for its power stations. Thiess will execute the project through its 90% owned Indian joint venture company Thiess Minecs. The other 10% is held by Kolkata based Minecs Finvest Private Ltd. The contract involves the construction of site infrastructure and coal processing plants during the first two years, followed by overburden removal, coal mining and operation of processing and rail loading facilities over the life of mine.
Production is planned to ramp up to 15 million metric tons per year (mt/y) over the first three years of mining and more than 300 million mt of coal will be mined over the contract duration, expected to be 22 years.
Thiess intends to recruit locally, providing a significant economic boost to the regional economy. During the construction and ramp-up period, Thiess will introduce sophisticated training simulators to train local people in heavy mining equipment operation.
