Behre Dolbear Awarded Contract for Technical Advisory Services for Sale of Indian Government shares in National Aluminium Company

OCTOBER 2002 - Behre Dolbear & Company, Inc. (Behre Dolbear) has been engaged to provide technical analysis and advisory services to support the Government of India (GoI) in its planned sale of shares in National Aluminium Company (NALCO). Behre Dolbear will function as the technical advisor to a group of banks lead by JP Morgan, which has been mandated by GoI to act as its financial advisor for the sale of shares in NALCO. The three part transaction consists of a Strategic Sale, an issue on the domestic stock market and an issue of ADR’s on the New York Stock Exchange.

NALCO’s operations, mostly in Orissa, are fully integrated and include a 4.8 million tpa bauxite mine at Panchpatmali, which is linked by a 15 km conveyor to the alumina refinery at Dalmanjodi. The refinery supplies about 4.5 million tpa of alumina to the company’s aluminium smelter at Angul with the remainder being exported through the port facility at Vizakhapatnam. The 2.3 million tpa smelter, commissioned in 1987, supplies molten metal to the integrated facilities of wholly owned subsidiary International Aluminium Products Limited (IAPL) which produces 50,000 tpa of cold rolled sheets and coils. The company operates its own captive 720MW coal fired power station at Angul.

Behre Dolbear, an internationally known mineral industry consulting firm, was chosen by the Ministry of Disinvestment to work with the banks on producing a comprehensive technical review of the operations, and to assist with obtaining SEC approval for the ADR issue in New York.

“We are delighted to be working with the Indian Government and J P Morgan again in the continuing privatization of the Indian aluminium industry. Behre Dolbear undertook a similar study of the operations of the Bharat Aluminium Company (“Balco”) in 1999/2000 for the GoI and Robert Fleming, now part of J P Morgan. The international dimension to the three part NALCO assignment adds an additional challenge but the high quality team assembled by the GoI combined with the quality assets of NALCO should ensure that the transactions have the best possible chances of success,” stated Christopher Hall.

Behre Dolbear, founded in 1911, has been continually operating for over 90 years. The Company is a preeminent technical and managerial consultant to the mining industry on a worldwide basis. It specializes in mineral industry studies for governments, mining companies, financial institutions, and natural resource firms. The firm typically performs reserve compilations and audits, mineral property evaluations and valuations, due diligence studies for acquisition purposes, assistance in negotiating mineral agreements, and market analyses. The firm works worldwide with a broad spectrum of commodities including base and precious metals, coal and lignite, ferrous metals, and industrial minerals.

Behre Dolbear operates internationally from offices in Denver, Guadalajara, London, New York, Santiago, Sydney, Toronto, and Vancouver.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 2002

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DONALD K. COOPER NEW YORK, NY 212.684.4150 dkc1777@comcast.net