State-owned Nalco today said it has identified mineral assets in Chile, Namibia and Indonesia, and is in the process of floating separate ventures in the foreign countries to buy out the reserves.
"We have zeroed down on three mining reserves. One each in Chile, Namibia and Indonesia. We are considering floating special purpose vehicles in the countries concerned for acquisition," Nalco Director Finance B L Bagra told PTI.
To secure raw material to run its diversified portfolio, the aluminium manufacturer has been scouting for bauxite, coal, uranium and copper reserves outside India.
"In Chile, we have identified a bauxite mine; in Namibia, a copper mine and in Indonesia, a coal block. For copper resources, we are looking to go jointly with Hindustan Copper," he added. For uranium assets overseas, the company can go with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, with whom it already has a joint venture to set up nuclear power plants.
The estimated reserves of the blocks could not be immediately ascertained.
He said the company is in process of selecting advisers for such acquisitions. The adviser, likely to be selected by August, would be expected to help in scouting mineral reserves overseas for Nalco as well as finalising such deals.
"The acquisition will be funded through debt and equity, possibly in the ratio of 2:1. Nalco has cash reserves of Rs 4,400 crore," Bagra added.
Nalco is already working on setting up a five-lakh-tonne smelter and an integrated 1,250 MW power plant in Indonesia, a project which will cost about $3.9 billion. The company will import required alumina to run the smelter from its India operations. The company is looking for captive coal block to run the plant as well.
Besides three countries, he said that the company is scouting for resources in Mongolia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Surinam, Zambia, Congo, but "things are at a very nascent stage."
Last year, the company had shelved investment plans in South Africa, besides putting on hold its Iran project. The proposed ventures involved an estimated investment of Rs 27,000 crore.
At present, the aluminium maker produces 1.6 million tonnes alumina from its refineries in Orissa. It produced 3.6 lakh tonne aluminium last year.