Vedanta's east India smelter imports alumina - exec

Reuter India, Dec 18, 2009

By Jatindra Dash
BHUBANESWAR, India, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Mining group Vedanta Resources Plc's east India plant is importing alumina to keep its aluminium smelter running despite a local scarcity of the input, a senior company official said on Friday.
The company has also approached the state-run National Aluminium Co (NALCO)  to buy alumina, said Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer of Orissa projects at Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. The company started its 250,000 tonnes-per-annum smelter in in Jharsuguda in Orissa state June 2008, and used alumina sourced from its refinery in nearby Lanjigarh.
It imported alumina for the first time last November and has so far bought 50,000 tonnes, Kumar told Reuters, and about 100,000 tonnes more will be imported by the end of the 2009/10 year in March. "We are operating in a very disturbed situation... we have inadequate stocks for the last few months," he said.
"We have already approached NALCO for allowing us to buy alumina and are waiting for their response."
The company has to import alumina due to dwindling availability of bauxite ore, which is refined to produce alumina and fed to the smelter for making aluminium.
Vedanta normally sources bauxite from the Indian states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Kumar said supplies had been hit by a combination of Maoist rebels disrupting transport, policies in Gujarat that restricted bauxite shipments, and high shipment costs in Maharashtra.
Vedanta wants to mine bauxite from the nearby Niyamgiri Hills and has submitted lease applications for 9 mines elsewhere in the state, but its clearances are mired in procedural delays and protests by residents.

Government data shows Vedanta produced 136,081 tonnes of aluminium in Orissa from April to October. Kumar said it expected aluminium production to be at full capacity by March.