National Aluminium Co gets mining lease for Utkal-E coal block in Odisha

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) on Friday said it has been granted the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block in Odisha.

The lease has been granted by the Department of Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha, through a notification issued on April 12.

As per the notification, the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block is over an area of 523.73 hectare, the company said in a filing to BSE.

The initial capacity of the block is 2 million tonnes per year with a total mineable reserve of approximately 70 million tonne.

Nalco has already executed the mining lease for Utkal-D coal block in March 2021.

With the grant of Utkal D & E coal blocks, the total mineable coal reserve of the company will be 175 million tonnes, which will be pivotal in meeting the coal requirement of its captive power plant at Angul, Odisha.

Sridhar Patra, CMD of the company said the NALCO team is very optimistic on starting the mining operation from Utkal-D coal block in this financial year.

"With the grant of the mining lease of Utkal E coal block, the planned expansion activities of the company will get a boost and will contribute significantly to the bottom line of Nalco," he said.

Initially, Nalco will be able to produce four million tonne coal per year from the operation of Utkal-D & E coal blocks. The lease for these two coal blocks has been granted to the PSU for a period of 30 years.