Nalco to set up alumina refinery in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Public Sector aluminium major Nalco will set up an alumina refinery in Odisha, Union Mines secretary Balwinder Kumar informed on Monday.

He said the proposed refinery with an annual output of one million tonne would come up at Damanjodi in Koraput district with an investment of Rs 5600 crore.

He also said the Odisha government has agreed to provide raw materials for the proposed refinery by leasing out bauxite mines to Nalco at Pottangi in Koraput district.

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 the district which is expected to be commissioned by 2018, sources said.

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.