Says reserves to last only four years more

Has Hindalco Industries’ lease for Odisha’s only operational private coal mine been a bonanza or a carefully husbanded and now depleting asset? According to the state mining department, the company has so far excavated about 16 million tonnes from this one, at Talabira in this district. If the calculation of operating margin at Rs 295.41 per tonne of coal indicated in the report of the country’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is taken as reference, Hindalco made a financial gain of Rs 466 crore.