Hindalco Industries Ltd.

The Aditya Birla group is in negotiations with as many as six thermal coal mine companies in Australia, in its search for raw material assets to feed its $5-billion growth programme in aluminum. The Mumbai based conglomerate has never been so active in overseas markets, since it acquired Canada's Novelis in 2007. The move to adopt an aggressive stance to acquire coal mines in Australia may have been triggered after the conglomerate faced delays in coal linkages for its forthcoming aluminum greenfield projects in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh which inflated project costs. The group also requires coal for its cement operations. Hindalco is investing about $5 billion to more than double its aluminum production capacity by 2016. The company has to buy coal from open market as it has not yet received clearances for coal block allotted for its greenfield projects.