The Hindu Business reported that National Aluminum Company plans to enter nuclear power generation and distribution in partnership with Nuclear Power Corporation.
As per report, a MoU to launch a JV between the 2 organizations will be signed next week.
Mr BL Bagra director finance of Nalco said that the MoU would pave the way for a 1000 MW project.
Mr Bagra said that “In addition to the equity participation by both the partners, the proposed MoU will also envisage rising of resources from the debt market. NPC would be the majority partner in the proposed JV while issues such as project location, initial capital base and equity holding pattern would be sorted out in due course.”
NPC would be in charge of nuclear power generation. Nalco would primarily be involved in the transmission segment including voltage regulation, erection and maintenance of sub stations. Nalco owns and operates 1,080 MW thermal power plants in Orissa. It is also going in for 1,250 MW thermal power plants in Indonesia for an alumina smelter there.
The diversification strategy of Nalco envisages leveraging expertise of the company in mining minerals and power generation. Nalco is choosing public sector organizations while selecting partners for its proposed diversification programs. Nalco has also proposed a JV with Hindustan Copper Limited for copper mining. It signed a MoU with Hindustan Copper in 2008 for joint prospecting, exploration and mining of copper within the country and abroad.
A draft JV agreement, which is under consideration by both the public sector mining companies, revolves around development of copper deposit at Banwas in Rajasthan. Hindustan Copper which owns the mining lease has not exploited it so far. The Banwas deposit is estimated to have ore reserves of 22.5 million tonnes having 1.69% copper content. Fully operational mining activity in this deposit is expected to produce 15,000 tonnes of minerals in concentrate annually.
Nalco also wants to have Hindustan Copper as its partner on its scouting mission in Namibia for copper. It has also begun preliminary discussions with Uranium Corporation of India for joint study of opportunity in Namibia for uranium as well.
Mr Bagra said that “On a recent visit to the African country, we gathered primary geological data and interacted with the Namibian Government officials. We are likely to explore possibilities there in some minerals.”
(Sourced from Thehindubusinessline.com)
