Andhra NoC to Nalco for mining lease

National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has got the no-objection certificate from the Andhra Pradesh government for grant of mining lease in favour of the company for two bauxite blocks in Visakhapatnam and east Godavari districts.

These two blocks with a combined reserve of 80 million tonnes of bauxite were allotted to Nalco for its proposed 1.4 million tonne per annum alumina refinery in Andhra Pradesh.

Nalco will invest around Rs 7,000 crore on setting up of the alumina refinery and the mining operations.

“Last week, the Andhra Pradesh government has sent the no-objection certificate to the Centre for grant of mining lease to Nalco for two bauxite blocks”, said BL Bagra, director (finance), Nalco.

The refinery project is likely to come up in Visakhapatnam district but the exact location is yet to be decided.

“We have engaged Mecon Limited for conducting the pre-feasibility study for the project. Mecon would submit its report by August this year”, added Bagra.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the 13th International Conference on Non-Ferrous Minerals and Metals organised by the Kolkata-based Millennium Institute of Energy and Environment Management (MIEEM).

Construction work on Nalco’s Andhra Pradesh refinery is expected to resume in 2011 and it is scheduled to be operational by 2013.

Among other projects of the company, Bagra said, Nalco proposed to set up a 0.5 million tonne per annum aluminium smelter and a 1,250 captive power plant near Jharsuguda in Orissa entailing an investment of Rs 16,000 crore. The project is expected to be operational by 2013-14.

Meanwhile, Nalco has completed the exploratory drilling work for the coal mine which it had identified in Indonesia. The aluminium major had submitted the data on the coal mine exploration to the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), a fully owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL). However, the company is yet to decide on the percentage of stake it would pick up in the coal mine.

Nalco had announced an investment of Rs 10,000 crore for setting up a 0.5 million tonne per annum aluminium smelter in Indonesia.  It expected the smelter to be operational by 2013-14.

Earlier addressing the delegates, Bagra said there are huge bauxite deposits in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh which have remained untapped.

Speaking on the occasion, RC Singla, director (mining), Hindustan Copper Limited, said, the company plans to revive the Kaendadih and Rakha copper mines in Jharkhand which were closed on account of economic unviability. “We have already started the revival work on Surda mines in Jharkhand in association with Australia-based Monarch Gold Mining Company”, he added.