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India’s Nalco to bid for bauxite blocks at auctions, readies to foray into merchant mining

16th November 2018

By: Ajoy K Das

Creamer Media Correspondent

     

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KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – With various Indian state governments readying to put 21 bauxite mines up for allocation, State-run National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) will put in bids at the auctions for captive consumption and foray into merchant mining of the raw material.

The 21 bauxite blocks will be auctioned by the governments of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Nalco has stated that it would leverage its expertise in captive mining of bauxite in the eastern state of Odisha to enter into commercial merchant mining as part of its diversification plans.

Some of the prime bauxite reserves would be developed for its own consumption, while production from other blocks would be up for free sale for other aluminium refiners in the country, company officials said.

The foray into domestic merchant mining would be the precursor to Nalco’s entry into mining of bauxite overseas, starting with exploration of opportunities in New Guinea.

Nalco proposed to send a delegation of officials to hold talks with the government of New Guinea seeking allocation of bauxite reserves, and it was possible that the Indian aluminium producer would also put on the table an offer to set up an alumina refinery in New Guinea as an additional sop, officials said.

It was pointed out that if plans in New Guinea fructified, it would provide a base for Nalco to enter into mining operations in Australia.

It might be noted that last month, the Australian High Commissioner in India laid out an invitation to Indian mining companies to acquire lithium mines in Australia with the option of shipping the critical electric vehicle battery manufacturing back to India.

However, Nalco’s entry into mining in Australia would be through its newly floated joint venture with Hindustan Copper Limited and Mineral Exploration Corporation of India Limited, christened, Khanij Videsh India, a dedicated subsidiary focusing on acquiring and developing critical mineral assets overseas, ranging from bauxite, lithium, cobalt and rare earths.

Nalco’s overseas new investment plans come in the wake of the company’s plans to invest in Iran being unlikely to materialise any time in the near future, owing to US sanctions against the Western Asian nation.

Nalco had proposed to set up a 500 000 t/y aluminium smelter in Iran based on cheap gas assured by the Iranian government to operate a linked captive power plant.

However, the Indian government through the Ministry of Mines, the administrative controller of Nalco, asked the latter to put its Iranian plans on ice and instead make strategic investment plans in other geographies to meet rising domestic demand for the base metal.

According to a Nalco forecast, Indian aluminium demand was expected to touch 7.2-million tons a year over the next five years from 3.6-million tons a year at present.

Edited by Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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