Mine fire hits coal supply to Nalco's captive power plant

Coal supply to the captive power plant of National Aluminium Company (Nalco) here was hit on Tuesday due to the outbreak of fire at the rapid loading system at the linked Bharatpur coal mine in Talcher Coalfields. The fire has destroyed the conveyor of the rapid loading system of Nalco at the mine under the command area of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL). “We are getting only three rakes of about 4,000 tonnes of coal per day through the Merry Go Round System against the normal despatch of 15,000 tonnes of coal”, said D C Sahu, general manager, Nalco. Two directors of MCL- A K Tiwari and S K Singh rushed to the Bharatpur coal mine to take stock of the situation. MCL sources said that they are trying to send more coal through railways and the Merry Go Round System to meet Nalco's demand. The fire at the Bharatpur coal mines broke out at 6 AM and it was put out at 10 AM by the fire tenders. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, sources said. Nalco which runs seven out of the nine 120 MW units at its smelter plant here has a coal stock of about 35,000 tonnes. The company draws about 15,000 tonnes of coal daily from its linked Bharatapur mine to run the plant. The daily requirement for running these seven units is about 14,000 tonne, sources said.