Thailand's Banpu plans $466 mln investment over 6 years

BANGKOK, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Banpu BANP.BK, Thailand's largest coal miner, said on Wednesday it planned to invest $466 million over the next six years, mostly in the coal business.

"Most of our investment money for existing projects will be spent on coal rather than the power business," Chief Executive Chanin Vongkusolkit told reporters.

Chanin said he expected the company's 2010 revenue to grow by single digits from this year's expected 57 billion baht ($1.71 billion) and expected its average selling coal price to fall below $72 a tonne targeted this year.

Banpu reported a higher-than-expected 22 percent rise in third-quarter net earnings after the market close on Tuesday, helped by higher coal sale volumes from Indonesian mines and gains from coal swap. ($1= 33.30 Baht) (Reporting by Pisit Changplyngam; Writing by Ploy Ten Kate; Editing by Jason Szep)