MUMBAI, June 18 - BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc. , the world's biggest mining group, is in talks to buy a 51 percent stake in an Indian alumina project, the Business Standard newspaper said on Monday.
Indian mining and mineral firm Ashapura Minechem Ltd. will hold the remaining 49 percent in the 25-billion-rupee ($614 million) project in the eastern state of Orissa, the paper said, quoting unnamed sources.
The two partners will invest 8 billion rupees towards equity and the remaining 17 billion will be raised through debt, it said.
The spokesman for Mumbai-based Ashapura could not immediately comment on the report.
In May, an official at Ashapura had said it was bidding for a bauxite mining lease in Orissa.
The Business Standard reported quoted Managing Director Chetan Shah as saying that it would take three months for government approval, and the project would be commissioned by next year.
But he declined to identify a likely partner, the paper said.
Ashapura has a tie-up with China's Qingtongxia Aluminium Group for a 25-billion-rupee alumina refinery project in the western state of Gujarat. Construction work is scheduled to start in November. ($1 = 40.7 rupees)
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