KEPCO to buy into Indonesian coal producer

• 14 years ago (2010-07-22)
• David Flin

North America 1021 Nuclear 659

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Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), South Korea’s state-run power company, said that it will buy a 20 per cent stake in PT Bayan Resources, Indonesia’s eighth-largest coal producer by output, for $515 million. KEPCO said in a statement that it plans to purchase coal equivalent to its stake for electricity generation.

PT Bayan Resources produces coal at its eight mines located in south eastern Kalimantan.

In another move, KEPCO has also said that it has decided to spend $5.75 million to conduct a second exploration of a uranium block near Waterbury Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. A consortium led by KEPCO discovered uranium deposits in the block in May, when it started exploring the block under a deal with Canadian uranium explorer Fission Energy Corporation. The consortium, which consists of four South Korean firms (KEPCO, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, Korea Nuclear Fuel, and Hanwha) and Gravis Capital Corporation of Canada, will evenly split the cost of about $28.7 million for the second exploration with Fission Energy. A spokesman for KEPCO said: “We have discovered high-quality and economically viable uranium, and we expect to be able to secure a large volume of it, which will help our nuclear power plant business.”