Oracle Coalfields to raise $300m for mining project
Oracle Coalfields, a UK-based company headed by Pakistani entrepreneur Shahrukh Khan, is hoping to raise $300 million for an open-pit mining project at Thar coalfield.
Oracle Coalfields has been admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, bringing the company closer to developing an area with estimated coal reserves of 1.4 billion tons.
According to Khan, the funds will be raised through institutional investors in the second half of 2011, after the completion of a feasibility study.
In 2009, Oracle Coalfields entered into an agreement with the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), under which KESC will develop a 300-megawatt power station. Moreover, if the coalfield is developed as planned in 2012, Oracle hopes to supply coal to Lucky Cement while KESC constructs a power plant – a project that could take three years.
“If things are done in an organised manner, there is no reason why Pakistan cannot attract foreign investment,” said Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2011.
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