 "Anil Agarwal")
The Odisha government via Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), a public sector undertaking, will arrange bauxite supply for Vedanta’s beleaguered alumina refinery at Lanjigarh by March 2017, Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal said in Bhubaneswar. “The state chief minister has assured us that all efforts would be taken to supply bauxite to Vedanta from OMC. The government has said all issues will be sorted out by March 2017 but we want bauxite even earlier than that,” Agarwal said after his meeting with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The assurance follows the recent statement of state steel and mines minister, Prafulla Mallick that the state was keen to supplying bauxite to the Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery, facing a raw material crisis after scrapping of Niyamgiri mining project, from the Kodingamalli mines of OMC.
“We don’t know whether it is Kodingamalli or other deposits, but the state is committed to supply us bauxite. We have invested more than Rs 50,000 crore here on that assurance,” Agarwal said. He said there are six to seven good quality bauxite deposits close to Lanjigarh. Any of these deposits can be tapped. Odisha has a huge amount of bauxite reserves. These resources should be auctioned speedily to unleash the potential of aluminium industry in the state, Agarwal pointed out.
On the fear of emergence of Niyamgiri-like agitation by NGOs at Kodingamalli, Agarwal said, though we are committed to protection of environment, the state government should act strong wherever there is unreasonable attempt to stall projects by vested interests. He cited the approach of the Tamil Nadu government with regard to Kudankulam nuclear power plant project. “Everybody abroad is keeping a tab on Vedanta’s investment in Odisha. Resolution of issues surrounding the project will boost investors’ confidence in the state,” Agarwal said.
He also said the present move by the state government to supply bauxite to the company’s Lanjigarh refinery from an OMC-owned mine was not a permanent solution to the raw material woes of the project. “I will be more comfortable if I get a mine.” For that, Vedanta will participate in auction of bauxite deposits by the state government.
Vedanta has been running its Lanjigarh alumina refinery on bauxite sourced from abroad and also other states within the country. Though the refinery has a rated capacity of six million tonne per annum (mtpa), Vedanta is presently operating at only two mtpa capacity. “We will expand capacity of the refinery as and when we have more visible sources of local bauxite,” said Agarwal.
Ever since the Union environment ministry red-flagged the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project in 2013, Vedanta has been pleading to the state government for alternative bauxite sources. But its attempts to source local bauxite have come unstuck with the state government offering only verbal assurances.
“Today, there is a lot of liberalisation in the mines sector. We have waited for 12-13 years to get access to local bauxite. We can wait for one or two more years,” he stated.
Vedanta is also developing an aluminium park, close to the site of its aluminium smelting unit at Jharsuguda. The proposed park can attract investments of up to Rs 1,000 crore.
The assurance follows the recent statement of state steel and mines minister, Prafulla Mallick that the state was keen to supplying bauxite to the Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery, facing a raw material crisis after scrapping of Niyamgiri mining project, from the Kodingamalli mines of OMC.
“We don’t know whether it is Kodingamalli or other deposits, but the state is committed to supply us bauxite. We have invested more than Rs 50,000 crore here on that assurance,” Agarwal said. He said there are six to seven good quality bauxite deposits close to Lanjigarh. Any of these deposits can be tapped. Odisha has a huge amount of bauxite reserves. These resources should be auctioned speedily to unleash the potential of aluminium industry in the state, Agarwal pointed out.
On the fear of emergence of Niyamgiri-like agitation by NGOs at Kodingamalli, Agarwal said, though we are committed to protection of environment, the state government should act strong wherever there is unreasonable attempt to stall projects by vested interests. He cited the approach of the Tamil Nadu government with regard to Kudankulam nuclear power plant project. “Everybody abroad is keeping a tab on Vedanta’s investment in Odisha. Resolution of issues surrounding the project will boost investors’ confidence in the state,” Agarwal said.
He also said the present move by the state government to supply bauxite to the company’s Lanjigarh refinery from an OMC-owned mine was not a permanent solution to the raw material woes of the project. “I will be more comfortable if I get a mine.” For that, Vedanta will participate in auction of bauxite deposits by the state government.
Vedanta has been running its Lanjigarh alumina refinery on bauxite sourced from abroad and also other states within the country. Though the refinery has a rated capacity of six million tonne per annum (mtpa), Vedanta is presently operating at only two mtpa capacity. “We will expand capacity of the refinery as and when we have more visible sources of local bauxite,” said Agarwal.
Ever since the Union environment ministry red-flagged the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project in 2013, Vedanta has been pleading to the state government for alternative bauxite sources. But its attempts to source local bauxite have come unstuck with the state government offering only verbal assurances.
“Today, there is a lot of liberalisation in the mines sector. We have waited for 12-13 years to get access to local bauxite. We can wait for one or two more years,” he stated.
Vedanta is also developing an aluminium park, close to the site of its aluminium smelting unit at Jharsuguda. The proposed park can attract investments of up to Rs 1,000 crore.
