Vedanta, Adani likely to bid for Bunder diamond project in MP

New Delhi: Metals and mining major Vedanta Ltd and the Adani Group may bid for the Bunder diamond project in Madhya Pradesh from which global giant Rio Tinto exited this year, according to sources.

"Vedanta may bid for the Bunder project," said a source on the condition of anonymity.

Another source in the know of developments said that Adani is considering bidding for the diamond project. Some of the company's officials have also visited the project site, he said.

"NIT (notice inviting tender) for the said project will be released in the month of November and it will be an online tendering process," Madhya Pradesh Mining Secretary Manohar Lal Dubey told PTI.

When asked about the tentative cost of the project, Dubey said it is very difficult to comment on that as there are many factors involved in it. He said however that as per the Indian Bureau of Mines the value of diamonds likely to be extracted from the project is estimated to be around Rs 60,000 crore.

He refused to name the companies that have evinced interest in the project, adding, "there are many companies which are expressing interest".

The Madhya Pradesh government this month had a meeting with the stakeholders in Mumbai and deliberated on 10 projects, including the Bunder diamond project.

Vedanta refused to comment on the same.

The company had earlier stated that it was open to exploring economic viable opportunities in the mining space. Adani could not be reached out for comment.

Mining giant Rio Tinto had in February said that it has exited from diamond mining project in Madhya Pradesh and had handed over its ownership to the state government.

In August 2016, Rio Tinto announced it would not proceed with the development of Bunder due to commercial considerations and would be seeking to close all project infrastructure.