By NNN-Bernama,
Melbourne : A government minister from energy-hungry India is touring coal-mining regions in the eastern Australian states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland on a mission to shore up his nation’s energy needs.
Minister of State for Coal Sriprakash Jaiswal told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radion on Friday that he had inspected coal mines in the NSW Hunter Valley and the Emerald region in Queensland .
India was looking to secure more coal because more than half of its electricity was generated from coal-fired plants, he said.
“It’s my duty to visit all the countries where coal is available and Australia is one of those countries where coal — and superior quality coal — is available,” he added.
India is facing a potential thermal coal shortfall of 200 million tonnes a year by 2012.
Australian coking coal is also used in more than 50 per cent of steel produced in India.