India’s Nalco secures new bauxite mine for brownfield expansion
KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - India’s National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) would be securing access to a new 65-million tonne bauxite reserve to expand its alumina refinery from 2.1-million tonnes a year to 3.1-million tonnes a year by 2016.
According to a company official, the bauxite reserves at Pottangi, in the East Indian province of Odisha, where the country’s largest integrated aluminium producer also has its operating units, would be sufficient to feed the expanded alumina refinery until 2036.
The refinery expansion and mine development would require an investment of around $800-million and Nalco was currently examining a detailed project report before the company board made a final call on the project, the official said.
The provincial government of Odisha had already accorded Nalco an in-principle approval for a mining lease.
The aluminium producer currently operates the 310-million-tonne Panchpatmali bauxite reserve in Odisha, producing 4.8-million tonnes a year to feed its alumina refinery and 0.46-million tonnes a year to feed its aluminium smelter.
The brownfield expansion in Odisha would be in addition to Nalco’s stuttering plans to invest $2-billion in the construction of a greenfield alumina and smelter plant in the western Indian province of Gujarat in a joint venture with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited (GMDC).
The project entailed a one-million-tonne alumina refinery and a half-million-tonne aluminium smelter, fed by bauxite to be supplied by GMDC from the latter’s mines in the Kutch district.
However, the project has hit a roadblock, with Nalco insisting that its partner, GMDC, arrange for supply of cheap power to the smelters. Without assurance of cheap power, Nalco preferred to invest in downstream aluminium value-added projects while GMDC was standing firm on upstream facilities, including the alumina refinery and the aluminum smelter.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Developed to exceed the latest EN 15964 standards for police breathalysers proving that it will remain accurate and reliable for many years to come.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
