Fire at MCL coal mines affects Nalco production

Fire at the MCL Bharatpur coal mines today affected power generation from the captive power plant of Nalco, official sources said.

Fire damaged heavy-duty electric motors of MCL and Nalco's conveyor belt estimated at around Rs 2 crore besides interrupting operation of Nalco's Smelter Plant at Angul, the sources said.

As the conveyor belts which transport coal from the Bharatpur bunker-cum-hopper to Nalco captive plant through a merry go round system were damaged, Nalco authorities stopped operations at its No 1 and No 9 units of the plant.

Nalco, a Navratna, requires 15,000 tonnes of coal per day to run its nine units fully.

Since Nalco has 960 pots at its smelter plant and power is a raw material for aluminium production, the company is likely to sustain loss of 10-15 tonnes of aluminium daily, Executive Director CPP D C Sahu said.