The state-owned company expects to employ the said coal at its proposed steel plant at Nagarnar in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
NMDC is looking for imported coal reserves, despite having an uninterrupted domestic supply of iron ore.
The steel plant is estimated to cost INR155.25bn ($2.85bn) and will operate at a capacity of three million tonnes of iron ore a year.
NMDC was quoted by The Economic Times as stating that the firm had undertaken negotiations to purchase the coking coal assets outside India.
"It is scouting for coking coal assets in the US also," said a release by the company.
The iron ore manufacturer recently concluded all required steps to initiate coal production from the Shahpur West coal block in Madhya Pradesh.
The block was allotted to the company in 2007, along with the Shahpur East block which hosts reserves of about 63.6 million tons of coal.
