Chotia coal block output to reach one MTPA in near term: Vedanta

Mining giant Vedanta Ltd has said that coal output from the mine located in Chhattisgarh will be increased to one million tonnes per annum as it looks to secure 90 per cent of its requirement from linkage and captive block.

Bharat Aluminium (Balco), part of Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd, had bagged Chotia block during the first phase of coal mine auctions held in 2015.

"Captive coal from Chotia block to be ramped up to 1.0 MTPA in near term," Vedanta said in an investor presentation.

The output from the captive mine stood at 0.45 million tonnes in the fourth quarter of last fiscal, it said.

Stating that 72 per cent of coal requirement by the company was secured from linkage and captive block, Vedanta Ltd said that it was targeting "to secure 90 per cent of requirement".

The mine has a capacity of one million tonne per annum. Known for its high quality coal reserves, Balco had bid a price of Rs 3,025 per tonne during the auctions.

Mentioning that there was a structural reduction in aluminium cost, the company said it achieved alumina peak run rate of 1.8 million tonnes per annum during FY 2019.

The increased local bauxite supply met 30 per cent of the company's requirement, it said.

"Ramped-up Lanjigarh volume and local bauxite reduced alumina cost," the firm added.

Vedanta Ltd Tuesday reported a 33.8 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,615 crore for the March quarter, on the back of lower income.

It had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,956 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY 2018, the company had said in a filing to the BSE.