NALCO gets mining lease for Utkal-E coal block

Bhubaneswar: National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) said on Friday that the Department of Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha, has granted the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block to the Navratna PSU. "The lease has been granted by the Department of Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha, through a notification issued on April 12," said an official statement released by NALCO.

"As per the notification, the mining lease of Utkal-E coal block is over an area of 523.73 Hectares in villages Nandichhod, Gopinathpur Jungle, Kundajhari Jungle, Kosala & Korada under Chendipada Tahasil of Angul district. The initial capacity of the Utkal-E coal block is 2 million tonnes per year with a total mineable reserve of approximately 70 million tonnes," the PSU further added.

Earlier in March this year, NALCO has already executed the mining lease for the Utkal D coal block. With the grant of Utkal D & E coal blocks, the total mineable coal reserve of NALCO will be 175 million tonnes, which will be pivotal in meeting the coal requirement of its Captive Power Plant at Angul, Odisha.

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On behalf of the NALCO collective, NALCO's Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Sridhar Patra thanked the state and the Central governments for sanctioning the mining lease and said that the NALCO team is very optimistic about 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 4 million tonnes of coal per year from Utkal-D & E coal blocks. The lease for Utkal-D & E Coal block has been granted to NALCO for a period of 30 years.

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