Vedanta Aluminium Likely to Issue Coal Tender

April4, 2011, 6:38 A.M. ET

By Saurabh Chaturvedi

NEW DELHI – Vedanta Aluminium Ltd., a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC, is likely to issue a tender Tuesday to source 10 million metric tons of coal to feed its growing operations, a person familiar with the development said Monday.

The aluminum producer will seek bids only from contractors who procure coal from state-run Coal India Ltd. or its units, the person, who declined to be named, said.

Coal India, the world's largest coal miner by volume, meets more than 80% of the country's requirement of the dry fuel.

The person said that the selected contractor would have to procure the fuel and also coordinate with the railways for availability of rakes, among other works. He didn't give any time line for coal supply.

Vedanta Aluminium is setting up a smelter along with a captive power plant at Jharsuguda in eastern India's Odisha state. The company operates a 1.4-million-ton-a-year alumina refinery and a captive power plant in Lanjigarh in the same state, and plans to raise the refinery's capacity to five million tons. (sourced TheWall StreetJournal)

Vedanta Aluminium needs 1 million tonnes coal in 2011

Tue Mar 8, 2011

NEW DELHI - India's Vedanta Aluminium needs to import around one million tonnes of thermal coal in 2011 for its new independent power plant in Orissa, an official responsible for coal buying said on Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Coaltrans conference in New Delhi, the official said that Vedanta's new 2,400-MW power plant, which supplies power to its aluminium plant, is designed to take a blend of imported and domestic coal.

Vedanta has already bought imports to cover its needs for February-April but is now seeking low calorific value Indonesian coal for the balance of the year.

Vedanta is also looking at long-term offtake agreements and possible purchases of coal mines abroad, the official said. (Thomson Reuters)