UPDATE 1-Ennore Coke to buy 90 pct in Australian firm

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KOLKATA Dec 17 (Reuters) - Ennore Coke Ltd (ENCK.BO) plans to buy a 90 percent stake in an Australian mining firm, a top official said on Thursday.

"We are in the process of acquiring 90 percent stake in an Australian mining company called Broughton at an estimated cost of around $15 million, and with reserves of 30 million tonnes of coking coal," Ganesan Natarajan, chief executive of Ennore Coke, told Reuters in an interview.

He expects to complete the acquisition by mid-June 2010.

The company will spend another $30 million to $40 million for developing the mines in Australia. It is planning to spend 20 billion in next 3 years for increasing its coking coal capacity.

"Over the next three years we are planning to scale up our total capacity to 2 million tones per annum, from 400,000 tonnes at present."

The company is also looking at coking coal assets in New Zealand with minimum reserves of 30-40 million tonnes, Natarajan added.

The company expects a total revenue of 3.5 billion rupees in FY10 compared with 1.08 billion rupees last year, with increased capacity driving growth.

"We have scaled up our capacity at Haldia plant (in West Bengal) from 150,000 tonnes to 300,000 tonnes."

At 1:34 p.m., shares at Ennore Coke were trading up 0.75 percent at 54.00 rupees in a weak Mumbai market.

(Reporting by Niladri Bhattacharya; Editing by Sunil Nair)