Exploration of bauxite should be further encouraged, says Tom Albanese

Vedanta Ltd Group chief executive officer Tom Albanese, in a recent interview, said that the Government of India should take more initiatives in the mining sector and further encourage exploration of bauxite.

While commenting on the winning of the first-ever auction of a gold mine in India in February and Vedanta's plans to initiate the process of exploration at the site, Albanese said the present NDA government is already doing a commendable job in boosting the industrial mining sector of the country. However, bauxite exploration needs further encouragement, he thought.

"In the long term, we do need to find assured supply of captive bauxite for aluminium business from India. This is something we are working for over ten years and we continue to be working," Albanese said.

"India is blessed with bauxite resources which are feed stock for aluminium business and for us to be importing bauxite from Africa, when we have it at backyard, is probably not the best economic solution nor it is sustainable," he added.