Anrak Aluminium says may get govt approval for bauxite project

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Anrak Aluminium is optimistic of securing government approval to mine bauxite in three to four months, a company official said on Wednesday, possibly ending a three-year wait.

"We are hopeful of getting approval in three to four months," Hariharan Mahadevan, president of projects at Anrak, told an industry conference in Singapore.

The mine, located in Andhra Pradesh, will have an annual capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes of bauxite, used to make alumina which then goes into producing aluminium.

Its alumina refinery should be in place by April 2015, while the second phase will include a smelter, Mahadevan said. Anrak is a joint venture between Penna group of industries and Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority, according to the company's Facebook page.

 

Vedanta Aluminium, which has been struggling to source sufficient bauxite to feed its 1 million tonnes per year alumina refinery in Odisha state, is also hopeful of an improvement in the supply of bauxite.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal, the founder of London-listed Vedanta Resources that controls Vedanta Aluminium, told reporters on Tuesday that the government of Odisha has assured him of adequate supplies in the next three to four months.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Additional reporting by Jatindra Dash in Odisha; Writing by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)