Nalco Opens Panchpatmalli South Block Bauxite Mine
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National Aluminium Company (Nalco) said it has opened the South Block Panchpatmalli bauxite mine. The new bauxite mine would have annual mining capacity of 3.1 million tonnes per annum. The aluminium major has invested Rs 600 crore on this mine.
Nalco's chairman & managing director (CMD) TK Chand said the new mine would fully cater to the company's expansion needs till the Pottangi mines commence operations. Nalco has bagged the Pottangi mines with 75 million tonnes reserves. The mine was awarded to Nalco to cater to its alumina refinery expansion at Damanjodi in Koraput district.
Nalco has firmed up an investment of Rs 5600 crore for adding a fifth stream to the Damanjodi refinery whose current capacity stands at 2.275 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). The expansion plan has already been cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA), the highest body to approve investments in Odisha. The company expects to perform the ground breaking ceremony of the new stream within a month.
Besides this, Nalco has developed 18.5 Mw steam power plant at Damanjodi and nano technology based defluoridation plant at its Angul aluminium.
The navratna company's current focus is on reducing the cost of its aluminium production.
"We want to increase the volume of production. Nalco is going for brownfield expansion of its Angul smelter by adding 0.6 million tonne capacity at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore", Chand said.
Nalco also hopes to commence mining from its captive Utkal-D and E coal blocks this year. Coal mining is projected to give relief of Rs 500 per tonne to Nalco on its aluminium making cost.
The Nalco CMD went on to explain how the Indian aluminium producers were at a disadvantage vis-a-vis their counterparts in West Asia where smelters get natural gas at throwaway prices. Besides, there are countries where cheaper hydro power fired the aluminium smelters. In contrast, the Indian aluminium players use costlier coal and so, our power cost is 10 times that of the smelter units in West Asia, he reasoned.
