Team News Riveting
Bhubaneswar, April 16
National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the leading producer of alumina and aluminium in the country, has been granted the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block.
The lease has been granted by the Department of Steel and Mines, Government of Odisha, through a notification issued on April 12. The mining lease of Utkal-E coal block is for over an area spread across 523.73 hectares in villages Nandichhod, Gopinathpur Jungle, Kundajhari Jungle, Kosala and Korada under Chendipada Tahasil of Angul District.
The initial capacity of Utkal-E coal block is 2 million tonnes per year with a total mineable reserve of approx. 70 million tonnes. Worth mentioning that NALCO, a Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise CPSE, and has already executed the mining lease for the 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, Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of NALCO, had thanked the State and Central Governments for sanctioning the mining lease. “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.
It may be noted that initially NALCO will be able to produce 4 million tonnes coal per year from the operation of Utkal-D and E coal blocks. The lease for Utkal-D and E Coal block has been granted to NALCO for a period of 30 years.
