Hyderabad May 24 In a first of its kind initiative to undertake contract mining of coal globally, the public sector Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), Midwest Granite Pvt Ltd and Sumber Mitra Jaya (SMJ) of Indonesia have formed a joint venture company.

The Union Minister of State for Coal, Dr Dasari Narayana Rao, formally launched the joint venture at a function where the Minister of State for Mines, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, and Minister of State for Defence, Mr M.M. Pallam Raju, were also present.

The joint venture is looking for allocation of coal blocks from Ministry with tie-up for coal supply to power plants, Mr Natarajan CMD - BEML told newspersons on the eve of announcing the joint venture, with headquarters in Hyderabad, today.

For the Rs 160-crore turnover Midwest Granites, the responsibility would be for exploration, planning, development and production of coal mines. Its marketing and distribution network will bring strength to the operations, Mr K. Raghava Reddy, Chairman, said.

The Rs 540 crore SMJ, the flagship company of the Indonesian Group Mitra Jaya, will bring its wide expertise in contract coal mining and production, to bid for projects in India as well as globally, Mr Govind Swamy said.