India's Nalco Monday confirmed it plans to invest in a 1 million mt/year alumina refinery in the state of Gujarat that is scheduled for completion in 2017.
The project was officially announced last August by then Nalco chairman and managing director B.L. Bagra at the company's AGM. Bagra did not mention a timeline at the event, saying only that "preparation of DPR [detailed project report] has been taken up".
But India's Economic Times had lifted the veil on the plan earlier by reporting in January 2012 that Nalco had paid an upfront fee of Rupee 1.5 billion ($26.94 million) to team up with Gujarat Mineral Development Corp. to build the refinery.
Nalco was the sole qualified bidder for the project, the newspaper reported. Nalco and GMDC did not respond to Platts queries at the time, and Nalco last August and again on Tuesday did not describe the project as a joint venture.
The Economic Times last August reported the project would include a 500,000 mt/year primary aluminum smelter, with GMDC supplying bauxite from its group of mines in the Kutch district of Gujarat. But Bagra did not mention an adjacent smelter for the refinery, nor did Nalco's latest statement.
GMDC has been mining bauxite in Kutch and Jamnagar for two decades, which is mostly consumed by the domestic refractory and chemical industries, with some quantity exported occasionally, according to the company's website. Nalco can produce 2.1 million mt/year of alumina and 460,000 mt/year of aluminum in the state of Odhisha. The company also announced Monday plans to add 1 million mt/year of capacity to its Odhisha alumina refinery, to be completed in 2016.
Nalco also announced Monday the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Mines for a 10% year-on-year increase in its sales target for the 2013-14 financial year to Rupees 77.57 billion ($1.43 billion).
In addition, Nalco said it has committed to production targets of 6.45 million mt of bauxite, 2.15 million mt of alumina and 405,000 mt of aluminum for fiscal 2013-14, compared with 6.3 million mt of bauxite, 2.1 million mt of alumina and 450,000 mt of aluminum for fiscal 2012-13 ending March 31.
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