Meghalaya Minerals & Mines scouts for mines

A subsidiary of the Assam-based cement manufacturer Barak Valley Cements Ltd (BVCL), Meghalaya Minerals & Mines Ltd is scouting for more mines in the North East region.

The company has already applied for mining leases for identified mines over an area of 50 hectares.

At present, Meghalaya Minerals & Mines has been mining in an area of 10 hectares in the region. One of the three subsidiaries of BVCL, Meghalaya Minerals and Mines was set up by the cement manufacturing firm as part of its diversification into mining operations.

BVCL has also diversified into power generation through its subsidiary Badarpur Energy Private Ltd and is setting up a 6 Mw biomass based captive power project at Badarpurghat in Assam through the latter at a project.

According to Kamakhya Chamaria, Managing Director, BVCL, the company is also expanding its clinkerisation capacity from present 420 tonnes per day (TPD) to 600 TPD and cement grinding capacity from 460 TPD to 750 TPD at a cost of Rs 25.37 crore.

"The demand for cement in North East is nearly 4.5 million tonnes at present. Being a major cement player in the region which produces just 1.8 million tonnes of cement, the company sees a lot of scope in expanding to capitalise on the demand-supply gap," said Chamaria, adding that the expansion will be completed by April 2008.

BVCL manufactures various grades of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) under the brand name 'Valley Strong Cement'.

To finance its expansion plans, the company entered the capital market on October 29, with a public issue of 5.55 million equity shares of Rs 10 each in a price band of Rs 37 and Rs 42 per equity share.