Commodity Online

SYDNEY: Australia s Leighton Holdings on Thursday announced that it has won two contracts worth $1 billion to develop and operate an open cut coal mine in India s Jharkhand state.

Leighton s subsidiary Thiess will build the infrastructure, and then operate the Chitarpur coal project for 20 years, the company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

The long term contract between Thiess India and Abhijeet Group of India was aimed mainly to extract nearly 115 million tonnes of coal over the next 20 years.

The mine would have a maximum capacity of 6.75 million tonnes a year and would supply coal to steel plants and to a nearby 1100 megawatt power station.

India Australia Energy