Nalco to spend Rs 1,000 cr on developing coal blocks

With this, Nalco's captive resources add 200 mn tonne of coal, which will see the firm through next three decades

Aluminium major National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) will spend around Rs 1,000 crore for developing Utkal D and E coal blocks allocated to it recently. Both the coal blocks are located in the vicinity of Nalco's 0.46 million tonne aluminium smelting facility at Angul.

"The company will spend about Rs 1,000 crore in next two to three years for the development of two coal blocks. The amount includes Rs 128 crore already spent on the development of the Utkal E block", T K Chand, chairman cum managing director, Nalco told media persons on the sidelines of an event here.

The Utkal E block was allotted to the navratna PSU ( public sector undertaking) by the Centre in 2004. But the block stood de-allocated after the Supreme Court order that cancelled allocation of 204 coal blocks. Since the de-allocation, Nalco was pursuing with the Government of India for re-allocation of the block in its favour since investment had already been made on its end-use plant.

"The Utkal D block is quite developed while some development has been made at the Utkal E coal block. I expect that the D block will be eligible for raising of coal in the next two years while the E block will be ready in the next three years, he added.

"The company's smooth operation and expansion plans hinged on the allocation of these blocks. With this, Nalco's captive resources add 200 million tonne of coal, which will see the company through the next three decades and more," Chand had said recently.

The central PSU has already announced Rs 30,000 crore expansion plan in Odisha. It plans to set up an aluminium smelter and captive power plant (CPP) in Sundergarh district. The navratna firm also plans to expand its existing alumina refinery at Damanjodi.

The company has alumina refinery capacity 2.275 million tonne per annum (mtpa) at Damanjodi and 0.46 million tonne smelter capacity at Angul. Similarly, its captive power plant has a generation capacity of 1200 Mw (10x120 Mw).