NEW DELHI: National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO), the country's third largest producer of aluminium, said it has received government approval to mine a coal block in Orissa, which has an estimated reserve of 70 million tonnes.

"Our goal is to mine close to 2 million tones of reserves every year", said BL Bagra, CMD, Nalco in an interview with ET Now.

The government plans 10% divestment in the company in the October-December quarter, according to reports.

However, Mr Bagra clarified that the company had received news of divestment from media reports and has not received any formal communication from the government.

State-owned aluminium producer NALCO plans to invest Rs 57,903 crore by 2020 on expansion, including the setting up of two large aluminium smelters in India and abroad.

The Navratna firm would invest Rs 16,500 crore in Indonesia for setting up a 5 million tonnes (MT) smelter, with 1,250 MW power plant, a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal and Steel said.

 

It added that the other smelter of the same size would be built in Western Orissa in two phases, with 1,260 MW power plant at an estimated investment of Rs 16,345 crore.

Besides, NALCO has plans to construct a new alumina refinery of 1.4 MT in Andhra Pradesh and 1,000-MW power project as independent power producer.

Both the projects would require an investment of Rs 10,600 crore, the report said, adding that rest of the amount would be spent on existing projects.

Standard Chartered upgraded Nalco to 'Outperform' with a price target of Rs 73 from Rs 67.00.

At 12:30 PM, shares in the company were trading 3.2% higher at Rs 61.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Analyst Call:

"Shares in Nalco Ltd might trade up to Rs 64-65, currently it is at 61.25, 58 to 60 is a very strong support", said Sandeep Wagle, Founder & MD, APTART Technical Advisory Services.

"The stock might move in the range of Rs 58 on the downside to Rs 64-65 on the upside and nothing beyond that", added Sandeep.