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Bolivia nears deal with India's Jindal on mega-mine
AFP
LA PAZ
Petroleumworld.com 06 01 06Bolivia's government said Wednesday it was nearing a deal with India's Jindal Steel and Power Limited on a potential 2.3-billion-dollar mega-mine concession for one of the world's biggest deposits of iron ore.
Juan Ramon Quintana, a presidential spokesman, said the last phase of negotiations was on the share of profits reserved for the Bolivian state "so that the one benefiting most is Bolivia."
The government had expected to make an announcement sooner but one was now expected possibly as early as the weekend, Development Planning Minister Carlos Villegas said.
Jindal is the lone bidder on the concession in Mutun, in the country's east, believed to hold 40 billion tonnes of iron ore and 10 billion tonnes of magnesium.
Quintana said Jindal was expected to invest 2.3-2.5 billion dollars over the next eight years, and that the project could create 10,000 jobs directly and 30,000 indirectly.
Socialist President Evo Morales ordered troops to occupy oil and natural gas sites run by foreign investors on May 1, and ordered the companies to renegotiate their contracts with state-owned oil company YPFB to bring them into line with Bolivia's Constitution.
While the measure rattled world gas markets, 75 percent of Bolivians backed the surprise order. Morales and labor unions of coca farmers helped bring down his two predecessors with demonstrations demanding Bolivia receive a greater share of its natural gas proceeds.
AFP 31 1846 GMT 05 06
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