(IDEX Online) - India's state-owned miner NMDC could be getting a multi billion dollar contract to explore and mine diamonds at a diamond project abandoned by Rio Tinto, reports Reuters.
Located in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the Bunder deposits could contain millions of carats of diamonds, Neeraj Mandloi, the principal secretary of the state's Mineral Resource Department, told Reuters.
Rio Tinto gifted the Bunder diamond project to the government of Madhya Pradesh in 2017 after announcing the previous year that commercial considerations prevented it from proceeding with development.
"Our geological survey has shown that the entire area, which has largely remained unexplored, is rich in diamonds," Mandloi said of the Bunder deposit. He said its output could be in the billions of dollars.
NMDC already mines in the neighboring Majhgawan mine at Panna, Madhya Pradesh.
Last month, the state government awarded a smaller portion of the deposit to Essel Mining & Industries, part of Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group. That area was valued at about $9 billion, according to estimates by Rio Tinto and the state government, reports Reuters.