KARACHI: “ICBC has issued a letter of interest for providing USD 1 billion in the form of a 10-year loan to help extract coal from block-I of Thar coalfield,” said Mr Chaudhary Abdul Qayyum, CEO of Sino-Sindh Resources Private Limited.
It has been able to resolve financing issues as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has agreed to fund a major chunk of the project. Sino-Sindh Resources Private Limited is a mining company working on block-I of Thar coalfield.
“This covers 75% of the capital cost of phase one of the project while 25% will be equity, which will be raised by a consortium. We hope that the financial close will be achieved in the Q2 of this year,” said Abdul Qayyum.
It is a subsidiary of Global Mining (China), which has 55% shares. Asiapak Investments holds 40% shares and a Dubai-based company has a 5% stake. The company has been allotted Thar coalfield’s block-I, which is spread over 150 square kilometres, out of the total area of 9,000 square kilometres.
