CALCUTTA, India, June 6 (UPI) -- India's public Steel Authority of India is seeking to form a consortium of Indian steel makers and bid for the Hajigak iron ore mine in Afghanistan.
SAIL Chairman C.S. Verma said that a memorandum of understanding was likely to be signed within the next two weeks among India's leading steel makers, The Telegraph newspaper in Kolkata, India, reported Monday.
Verma said, "We have time till August for making the bid. But the contours of the consortium will be finalized now."
The Taliban insurgency is complicating the investment picture and Indian investors worry about the safety of their workforce and investment in Afghanistan, even a project as alluring as Hajigak, which analysts believe has the world's largest iron ore deposits.
Nevertheless, the SAIL Hajigak mining initiative is an unusual example of Indian public and private sector companies joining forces to bid for a foreign raw material asset.
Hajigak is in Bamyan province, close to Wardak district, which has suffered from frequent Taliban attacks.
