India’s Nalco running short of coal due to strike

Indian state aluminium producer Nalco is facing a coal supply crunch at the power station supplying its 345,000tpy Angul smelter in the eastern state of Orissa.

The problem is a strike by the union representing the drivers who transport the coal from the Talcher coal-field to the company’s 960MW power plant. Deliveries remained paralysed for a third successive day yesterday and the plant, which needs 14,000t of coal per day, currently has stocks of only 45,000t.

Nalco has already taken down two of the power plant’s seven generating units to preserve its stocks in the hope that multi-party talks aimed at ending the strike produce a peace deal.

Source: Metals Insider