India is looking at possible tie-ups with Mongolia in the fields of mining, technical cooperation and development of infrastructure, a top official on Friday said.
"We are considering formation of a government of India-backed consortium of Indian companies from the public and private sector for seeking mining and mineral concessions from Mongolian authorities for exploration and development," Mines Secretary Santha Sheela Nair, who led a high-level delegation to Mongolia and China, told reporters on Friday.
"Mongolian Prime Minister Batbold S invited us for joint ventures in mineral-based value addition projects and associated infrastructure development," Nair said.
Both the countries have formed a joint working group to look at possible formation of joint venture companies for development of mineral and mining assets, including uranium and coking coal, she said.
Technical cooperation between the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and its Mongolian counterpart in the areas of training, satellite based mapping, targeted surveys and studies is also being considered.
Furthermore, the Indian Bureau of Mines and its Mongolian counterpart are looking for cooperation in the areas of mineral processing, laboratory scale studies and training, information sharing and computerised ore body modeling, Nair
said.
Nair said the delegation also visited China, where China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining Group Co. (CNMC) wanted to have cooperation with NALCO on projects. Similarly, China Minmetals Group and MCC Group wanted to collaborate with Indian
companies.