State-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco) will spend Rs 1,389 crore in the next fiscal for its several long-term expansion programmes, according to the Budget statement.
The other public sector mining firm Hindustan Copper, which is expecting the Cabinet nod for its share sale plan soon, has also earmarked Rs 150 crore for its capital expenditure in 2010-11, almost double of the amount it has planned for the current fiscal.
The three mining PSUs --Nalco, Hindustan Copper and Mineral Exploration Corporation of India-- and geological mapping body GSI have been allocated Rs 1,553 crore for 2010-11. Lion's share of 89 per cent of the allocated amount goes to the navratna aluminium producer Nalco.
In the current fiscal, the earmarked amount for all these agencies under the Ministry of Mines was Rs 1,046 crore.
Nalco, which has got Rs 950 crore for the 2009-10, is working on mega expansion in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh on domestic front. It is also pursuing multi-billion dollar projects in Indonesia and Iran.
Hindustan Copper, is expected to mainly invest the Rs 150 crore on its mining operations in Rajasthan.
The Government is planning to divest 10 per cent of its stake in the proposed Follow-on-Public Offer (FPO) of the copper miner. The company would also raise fresh equity in the same proportion in the two-phased FPO, likely in next fiscal.