The Indian consortium that will mine copper and gold in Afghanistan is expected to meet on the first week of June to discuss each member's equity shareholding after due diligence work on the mineral deposits has been completed.

The consortium members included Hindustan Copper Ltd., Nalco, SAIL and MECL.

"We have sent four teams to Afghanistan for site visit. We will study their reports and do a due diligence on the reserves. The last of these teams will return on June 5. We are scheduled to meet after that to take a call on equity shareholding among the consortium members. We are getting feelers from other private players interested in joining the consortium and will decide on whether to invite them as part of the team," Shakeel Ahmed, chairman of Hindustan Copper Ltd., said in The Economic Times.

Among the private players shortlisted by the Afghan mines ministry were Sterlite Industries, Monnet Ispat & Energy and Jindal Steel & Power.

Apart from the Indian consortium, the Afghan mines ministry had likewise shortlisted big investor candidates from Canada, the Emirates, and Australia to mine its copper and gold deposits.