NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): The hunt is almost over for India’s steel giant Essar Group. After months of search to buy small coal firms, Essar has finally zeroed in on Trinity Coal Partners.  The Indian company will buy Trinity for $600 million.

A press note said the purchase will give Essar mines in Kentucky and West Virginia with proven reserves of 200 million tonnes of coal.

The India-based Essar Group is the parent corporation of Essar Steel, which plans to build a $1.65 billion taconite, direct-reduced iron and slab steel plant near Nashwauk.

The coal mine purchase is part of Essar’s strategy to secure raw materials globally for its steel and power operations, according to a press note from the company.

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Access to Trinity’s vast coal reserves and the opportunity to work with a team of skilled personnel will take us closer to our vision of becoming one of the lowest-cost steel producers in the world, CEO Prashant Ruia said.

Trinity Coal produces about 7 million tonnes of coal annually and plans to increase production to 10 million tons per year.

The firm is based in Scott Depot, W. Va., and employs about 650 people at six mining complexes.

Essar is buying Trinity Coal from Denham Capital, a global private equity firm with offices in Boston, Houston and London. Denham bought Trinity in January 2005. Since then, Trinity has more than doubled its coal reserves and increased its production capacity from about 1.7 million tons to 9 million tons per year. The sale is expected to close by the end of the month.

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