MUMBAI, April 24 (Reuters) - Indian miner NMDC (NMDC.NS), is exploring coking coal assets, key ingredient used for making iron ore and steel, in Indonesia and Australia, Chairman Amitava Mukherjee said on Thursday.

India, the world's second-largest producer of crude steel, meets 85% of its coking coal requirements through imports. Australia accounts for more than half of the country's coking coal imports.

The company is looking at this as a business opportunity, Mukherjee said. "They (explorations) are in different stages of negotiations." He did not disclose the details of these talks due to confidentiality.

State-owned NMDC is India's largest iron ore miner with four operational mines across the country.

The country's top steelmaker JSW Steel's (JSTL.NS), CEO Jayant Acharya had told Reuters earlier in the day that the company sources coking coal from Australia, the United States and Mozambique. State-owned SAIL (SAIL.NS), opens new tab also procures coking coal from countries such as Mongolia.

Coking coal has traditionally been a volatile commodity because of its dominance in exports and the variability of weather, according to commodity consultancy firm BigMint.

In 2023, erratic weather conditions hit coking coal supplies from Australia.