State-run National Aluminium Co (NALCO) resumed operations at its bauxite mine in eastern India after getting a temporary one-year permit, nearly a month after it was shut, a senior company official said on Tuesday.
The operation at Panchpatmali mine in the Koraput district of Odisha, which has a deposit of more than 310 million tonnes of bauxite, was suspended after NALCO's 30-year lease for the area expired on November 16.
"Last night we re-commenced operation of the mine," Ansuman Das, chairman and managing director told Reuters.
He said the month-long disruption had not impacted the company's smelter operation although its alumina refinery located nearby was operating at lower load.
"Now the mine has started, we hope to resume full operations at the refinery also in a day or two," he said.
NALCO, which is India's third largest aluminium producer, expects to get the lease it had applied for nearly two years ago renewed within this period, he said.