Mumbai Govt looks to sell 12.15% through OFS route to raise about R1,400 crore

The government has, on several occasions, indicated that it plans to embark upon its FY13 divestment plan by selling 10-12% stakes in natural resources giants National Aluminium company (Nalco) and National Mineral Development corporation (NMDC). While market observers believe that NMDC is an attractive bet due to the regulatory issues faced by rival Sesa Goa, they think Nalco may not see similar interest from investors given its operational problems.

After the lime procurement scam and lean slurry scam, Nalco is once again in the spotlight, this time over misuse of peripheral development (PD) fund and CSR fund.

Public Sector National Aluminium Company seems to be heading for major crisis this month as the 30-year-old mining lease of company’s only bauxite mine in Koraput district is about to expire on Nov

Bhubaneswar It is like carrying coal to Newcastle. Orissa, which already has a huge reserve of iron ore and bauxite, is, of late, importing the two raw materials.

Realising this, the state government has now decided to put in place a mechanism to ensure raw material supply from the state mines to the mineral-based industries in the state. The state government has constituted a three-member ministerial panel under the chairmanship of finance minister Prasanna Acharya to formulate a policy to ensure smooth supply of minerals such as iron ore, bauxite, manganese and chrome ore to industries based in the state on a long-term basis. The other members of the committee include industries minister Niranjan Pujhari and steel & mines minister Ranjani Kant Singh.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the mines ministry had moved a note for the sale of the government’s residual stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) and Bharat Aluminium (Balco).

The matter would go to the Cabinet and the finance ministry would give its views in due course, he said. And, declined to comment on the pricing, noting he’d earlier recused from this matter.

Jharsuguda facility may shut down in a month

A day after shutting down its bauxite refining unit at Lanjigarh temporarily citing unavailability of bauxite ore, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), has said it can hardly run its smelter facility at Jharsuguda for a month in the absence of enough alumina to run the plant. “Amid raw material supply problems, we can run the smelter plant hardly by a month or so,” said an official of VAL smelter plant.

Union tribal affairs and panchayati raj minister V Kishore Chandra Deo says his ministry will take a closer look at mineral resource projects, bauxite, iron ore or any other mineral, in areas where

State-run caustic soda major Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL) has joined hands with National Aluminium Company (Nalco) for setting up 200,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) caustic soda project at Dahej in Gujarat.

"The feasibility report for the proposed project is currently on and is likely to be completed by October-November this year. GACL will have majority stake in the project, which will come up at Dahej in Gujarat," said MS Dagur, managing director, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, which is the largest caustic soda manufacturer in India.

Bhubaneswar: Taking forward its plans to industrialise the state, the Odisha government today approved investments worth Rs 26,076 crore in different sectors including that of aluminium major Nalco

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to give a boost to the pace of industrialisation in the State, the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA), headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday approved investme