Hindalco to aid in captive mine

Essar Power and Hindalco have teamed up to develop a captive coal mine at Mahan in Madhya Pradesh. The mine, with proven reserves of 150 million tonne of coal, will cater to the combined Rs 6,500 crore power projects being set up by the two conglomerates in the state.

Essar Power is investing Rs 4,000 crore for a 1,000 mw power project in the state while Hindalco is setting up a 600 mw coal-based captive power plant with an estimated investment of Rs 2,400 crore.

"We (Essar and Hindalco) have sent a formal proposal to the ministry around 10 days earlier. The confirmation for mine allocation is expected within a week," said a highly placed official at Essar Power.

Almost 60 per cent of the coal reserves will be used by Essar and the rest by Hindalco, the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group. This will meet requirements of the company's aluminium projects coming up in the state, said the source.

"The financial closure of the project will take six-nine months. We expect the land and water allotment to come before that," he added.