Lanjigarh: Encouraged by supply of bauxite from the state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), the Vedanta Ltd is optimistic about completion of its refinery expansion project.
Though the aluminium major has been managing to run its 2 mtpa refinery since 2007 by importing bauxite from other states and abroad, the company for the first time received the raw material from OMC’s Kodingamali mines recently, Vedanta’s external affairs (head) Sanjeev Kumar said.
The raw material is available to the company from the bauxite rich Odisha almost 10 years after its successful operation. The Vedanta got bauxite from Kodingamali mines, located about 152 km from its refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district. The company has been importing bauxite from countries like Brazil and Guinea and other states like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to feed its 2 mtpa refinery, he said.
The company could utilise only 1.2 mtpa capacity of the refinery due to raw material shortage despite obtaining Consent to Operate (CTO) for 2 mtpa, he said. The company has meanwhile begun to enhance capacity of the refinery from 2 mtpa to 4 mtpa and subsequently to 6 mtpa by 2021. The Vedanta has so far spent about `5,000 crore on expansion project, he said.
“Though OMC at present meets only five per cent of our bauxite requirement, we look forward to getting more raw material by taking part in bids of other mines,” he said. The Vedanta is optimistic about getting about 3 million tonnes of bauxite, which is 50 per cent of its need, to run the 2 mtpa refinery by year end. He said the company would need about 12 million tonnes of bauxite after expansion of its refinery to 4 mtpa.