Bhubaneswar: London-listed Vedanta Resources, the diversified mining and metals major, expects that two bauxite deposits, Kutrumali and Sijimali in southern Odisha with an estimated combined reserve of 300 million tonne, will come to the rescue of the bauxite-starved company under the amended Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 2015.
The company’s expectations renewed following the State government recommending the Centre for allotment of these deposits to engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) which held the prospecting licence (PL) for these two deposits for two decades.
“Under the amended Mines and Minerals Act, we hope that the Centre will allow us to mine Kutrumali and Sijimali for which L&T had won a PL,” company’s CEO – Aluminium Abhijit Pati told this correspondent. “We’ll start work soon after getting the approval,” he asserted.
Asked whether L&T is eligible to get mining licence (ML) under the amended Act given the fact that the PL had expired way back in 1994, another company official said, “Long-term supplies to Lanjigarh refinery from the two bauxite deposits of L&T is legally tenable under the Act.”
The 1-million tonne per annum (mtpa) aluminium refinery in Kalahandi district, which is currently running at a depleted capacity on account of raw material crunch, needs 3 mtpa of bauxite.
Besides, the company’s phase-wise expansion proposal of the unit to 6 mtpa, which received support at a public hearing in August last year and a prerequisite for its environmental impact assessment, will also need larger amount of raw material gradually.
“With Niyamgiri out of question and with no option left, we are now pinning hopes on the two reserves. It will be a complete respite for our ailing unit if we are allowed to mine these reserves,” said the official.
Currently, Vedanta holds a joint venture agreement with L&T. In 1992, L&T had won PL for Sijimali and Kutrumali bauxite mines. But two years later after the expiry of PL, the State government denied ML to L&T since it had no end-use plant.
Through a joint venture with Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) in 2005, L&T had proposed to set up a Rs 30,000-crore alumina refinery of 3-mtpa capacity at Rayagada, 1.5-mtpa smelter project and a captive power plant (CPP).
Seven years later, when Dubal walked out of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) in 2012, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) bought 24% stake in the project.