Nalco has identified three mineral assets in Chile, Namibia and Indonesia, and is in the process of floating separate ventures in the foreign countries to buy out the reserves. The acquisition will be funded through debt and equity, possibly in the ratio of 2:1. Nalco has cash reserves of Rs 4,400 crore.
To secure raw material to run its diversified portfolio, the aluminium manufacturer has been scouting for bauxite, coal, uranium and copper reserves outside India. The estimated reserves of the blocks could not be immediately ascertained. Besides, the company is scouting for resources in Mongolia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Surinam, Zambia, Congo.
In Chile, the company has identified a bauxite mine; in Namibia, a copper mine and in Indonesia, a coal block. For copper resources, it is looking to go jointly with Hindustan Copper. For uranium assets overseas, the company can go with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, with whom it already has a joint venture to set up nuclear power plants.
Nalco is already working on setting up a five-lakh-tonne smelter and an integrated 1,250 MW power plant in Indonesia, a project which will cost about $3.9 billion. The company will import required alumina to run the smelter from its India operations. The company is looking for captive coal block to run the plant as well. crackcrack