According to The Telegraph, India's Ministry of Steel is preparing a document to submit to the Government of India to allow the NMDC Group to buy shares of Masan Resources which owns Nui Phao tungsten mine.
With approval and support from the Government of India, NMDC may become a minority shareholder at Masan Resources, a 66 million-ton tungsten mining company. It is considered to be the largest mine in the world outside of China.
After being approved, NMDC will conduct a due diligence of the Vietnamese company. The acquisition of shares would take place only when the parties reached an agreement on prices and other conditions.
Tungsten is the material used in nuclear reactors and defense industry.
India is in need of this material for its ambitious nuclear energy development plan with aim at to reducing its reliance on coal plants.
The South Asian nation has eight nuclear power plants with installed capacity of 6,780 MW while six are under construction and will produce 4,300 MW. India's plan is to develop more plants to increase nuclear generation capacity up to 45,000 MW.
Last year, NMDC and Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani) signed an agreement to develop tungsten mining and metal processing technology. NMDC plans to import metal from Vietnam and transfer it to Midhani to make tungsten alloys and other products.
Midhani is a company under the Ministry of Defense of India that manufactures special metals and alloys for space, nuclear, aviation, steel, hydro and defense.
If the deal is successful, India will have an important supplier of reliable metals that China dominates in the market.
China is the world's largest producer of tungsten, accounting for four fifths of its production. Vietnam ranks second in production of about 5,000 tons. Russia and Canada are other major producers.
NMDC is a mineral corporation owned by the Government of India and under the management of the Ministry of Steel. The group is India's largest ore producer with an output of about 30 million tons a year.
