BHUBANESWAR: The National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) has been granted the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block. According to a notification issued by Steel and Mines department, the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block is over an area of 523.73 hectare (ha) covering Nandichhod, Gopinathpur forest, Kundajhari forest, Kosala and Korada villages under Chendipada tehsil of Angul district.
The initial capacity of Utkal-E coal block is two million tonne (MT) per year with a total mineable reserve of approximately 70 MT. Nalco has already executed the mining lease for Utkal-D coal block in March. With the grant of Utkal-D and E blocks, the total mineable coal reserve of the company will now be 175 MT. Official sources said this will meet the coal requirement of Nalco’s captive power plant at Angul.
Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Nalco Sridhar Patra thanked the State government and the Centre for sanctioning the mining lease and 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. Nalco will be able to produce four MT coal per year from the operation of Utkal-D and E coal blocks. The lease for Utkal-D and E coal blocks has been granted to Nalco for a period of 30 years.