Vedanta to invest `10,000 cr to up Lanjigarh alumina refinery capacity
10 Sept 2014 6:31 AM IST
'Doubling of the alumina refinery capacity from 1 mtpa to 2 mtpa would be done within a year of getting all the clearances,' Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal told reporters after meeting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Raising the capacity further to 6 mtpa would depend on
availability of bauxite, a key raw material for making alumina, he said.
The company, which had invested about Rs 52,000 crore for the project nearly a decade ago, will be putting in another Rs 10,000 crore for capacity expansion, he added. Similarly, its smelter at Jharsuguda is producing only 5 lakh tonnes, 25 per cent of the installed capacity of 20 lakh tonne, due to inadequate feed of alumina, Agarwal said.
About a million tonne alumina is now being imported from countries like Australia and Brazil. While more alumina would be available after expansion of Lanjigarh refinery, rest can be imported, he said. At the same time, Vedanta has been requesting Nalco to provide alumina for Jharsuguda smelter as the public sector company is exporting it, Agarwal said.
'Our vision is to ensure that our entire aluminium is consumed inside Odisha which would benefit lakhs of people and local entrepreneurs in downstream,' added Agarwal.
Vedanta, which had set up 1 mtpa refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district around 8 years ago, has been facing acute shortage of bauxite and now importing the raw material from other states as well as from abroad to feed its plant. The company had to shut down the plant for some months due to scarcity of bauxite in 2012.
The company's concern for the raw material had been compounded after the Odisha government's plan to start bauxite mining from Niyamgiri Hills failed. 'We have been getting bauxite from other countries and other Indian states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand,' Agarwal pointed out.
In a bid to overcome the serious bauxite crisis, the company has already entered into a joint venture with Larsen & Toubro (L&T), he said. India's largest infrastructure company had been allocated with two major bauxite reserves in the state. As Larsen & Toubro did not have a plant here, it was not given a mining licence.
availability of bauxite, a key raw material for making alumina, he said.
The company, which had invested about Rs 52,000 crore for the project nearly a decade ago, will be putting in another Rs 10,000 crore for capacity expansion, he added. Similarly, its smelter at Jharsuguda is producing only 5 lakh tonnes, 25 per cent of the installed capacity of 20 lakh tonne, due to inadequate feed of alumina, Agarwal said.
About a million tonne alumina is now being imported from countries like Australia and Brazil. While more alumina would be available after expansion of Lanjigarh refinery, rest can be imported, he said. At the same time, Vedanta has been requesting Nalco to provide alumina for Jharsuguda smelter as the public sector company is exporting it, Agarwal said.
'Our vision is to ensure that our entire aluminium is consumed inside Odisha which would benefit lakhs of people and local entrepreneurs in downstream,' added Agarwal.
Vedanta, which had set up 1 mtpa refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district around 8 years ago, has been facing acute shortage of bauxite and now importing the raw material from other states as well as from abroad to feed its plant. The company had to shut down the plant for some months due to scarcity of bauxite in 2012.
The company's concern for the raw material had been compounded after the Odisha government's plan to start bauxite mining from Niyamgiri Hills failed. 'We have been getting bauxite from other countries and other Indian states like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand,' Agarwal pointed out.
In a bid to overcome the serious bauxite crisis, the company has already entered into a joint venture with Larsen & Toubro (L&T), he said. India's largest infrastructure company had been allocated with two major bauxite reserves in the state. As Larsen & Toubro did not have a plant here, it was not given a mining licence.
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