 "Odisha pushes Nalco's case for Pottangi mines")
Aluminium major National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has moved closer in its bid to bag the Pottangi bauxite deposits with the Odisha government writing to the Union mines ministry to allocate the mines in favour of the central PSU.
"We have already written to the Centre to allocate Pottangi mines in favour of Nalco. The DGPS Differential Global Positioning System) survey for the mine will be carried out by Nalco'', said director (mines), Odisha, Deepak Mohanty.
The Pottangi mines, with 70 million tonne bauxite deposits, has already been reserved for Nalco since 2007. Nalco would source bauxite from these mines to feed its new refinery stream.
The navratna company is adding the fifth stream of one million tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity to its existing alumina refinery at Damanjodi in Koraput district at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore.
The new refinery is expected to be commissioned by 2018. Presently, Nalco has a capacity to refine 2.25 mtpa of bauxite per annum at its Damanjodi facility located at the foothills of its Panchpatmalli bauxite lease.
Recently, Nalco had submitted Rs 300 crore CSR (corporate social responsibility) package to the state government for the Pottangi deposits.
The CSR projects would be implemented at Damanjodi, Angul and other parts of Odisha.The state government as extended the validity of Nalco's Panchpatmalli lease in Koraput district up to 2020.
Nalco has lined up an investment of Rs 30,000-35,000 crore on its various investment projects in Odisha. Apart from the new refinery stream, the company is investing Rs 22,000 crore on 0.5 mtpa smelter plant and 1,050 Mw captive power plant (CPP) in Sundargarh district.
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Beyond Odisha, Nalco is pursuing the 0.5 mtpa smelter project at Kutch (Gujarat) based on bauxite supplies from Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC).
In the overseas market, Nalco is exploring possibilities to set up a greenfield smelter at a location where energy is available at competitive price. Nalco has shortlisted Iran, Indonesia and Oman as possible locations for the overseas smelter.