NALCO awarded Utkal E coal block mining lease

The lease has been granted by the Department of Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha, through a notification issued on 12 April. As per the notification, the mining lease of the Utkal E coal block is over an area of 523.73 Ha 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 tpy with a total mineable reserve of approximately 70 million t.

NALCO previously executed the mining lease for the Utkal D Coal block in March 2021. With the granting of both the Utkal D and E coal blocks, the total mineable coal reserve of the company will be 175 million t, which will be pivotal in meeting the coal requirement of its Captive Power Plant at Angul, Odisha.

On behalf of NALCO collective, Shri Sridhar Patra, CMD of the company has thanked the State and Central Governments for sanctioning the mining lease and said that the NALCO team is very optimistic on starting the mining operation from the 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 tpy of coal from the operation of the Utkal D and E coal blocks. The lease for the Utkal D and E Coal block has been granted to NALCO for a period of 30 years.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/exploration-and-development/20042021/nalco-awarded-utkal-e-coal-block-mining-lease/