Thiess, an Australian mining contractor wholly owned by Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX: LEI), announced today it has won a landmark $5.5 billion mine development and coal mining contract in India.

The company will develop and operate the greenfield Pakri Barwadih coal mine for blue chip client NTPC Ltd, which is a Government of India enterprise and the nation's largest electricity generator under one of the largest contracts ever awarded by NTPC.

Pakri Barwadih will be the first of six mines NTPC Limited intends to develop to provide low cost coal for its power stations, replacing expensive imported coal.

Thiess said in a statement it will execute the project through its 90 per cent owned Indian joint venture company Thiess Minecs. The other 10 per cent is held by Kolkata based Minecs Finvest Private Ltd.

The contract involves the construction of site infrastructure and coal processing plants during the first two years, followed by overburden removal, coal mining and operation of processing and rail loading facilities over the life of mine.

Production is planned to ramp up to 15 million tonnes per annum over the first three years of mining and more than 300 million tonnes of coal will be mined over the contract duration, expected to be 22 years.

"India has the fourth-largest coal reserves in the world and is the third largest producer. We believe this project will lead to more opportunities for Thiess in India, particularly given the strong economic growth currently occurring," Mining Chief Executive Bruce Munro said.

Thiess intends to recruit locally, providing a significant economic boost to the regional economy.

It said it will "introduce sophisticated training simulators to train local people in heavy mining equipment operation" during the construction and ramp-up period.