
The recently ended Confederation of Indian Industry’s Sustainability Summit in New Delhi saw the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Mines, Coal, Power and New & Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal expressing concern about Indian aluminium majors not operating at their full capacities thereby leaving the country’s mineral resource largely unutilised and available for export.
At the sidelines of the Summit, Goyal said, “I have asked NALCO to prepare a prospective future plan raise capacity to 20 lakh tonne from the present 4.6 lakh tonne…NALCO has been exporting alumina for several years while the country keeps importing the mineral. We must utilise the mineral within the country to overcome such a scenario.”
“They had a full fledged expansion plan which was formed some years ago but it never took off and the reason they gave was electricity is too costly in the country. Instead, they went for a tie-up with Iran to export alumina there and produce aluminium in Iran as power is cheaper there,” Goyal said.
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He further added that the ministry will soon start a public disclosure regarding India’s alumina exports. This will be aimed at putting an end to rampant shipment of the mineral which is refined from bauxite and used in smelters to get pure aluminium in molten form.
Currently, the State owned Navaratna company has an aluminium smelter capacity of 4.6 lakh tonnes. Its alumina refinery produces 20 lakh tonne of the mineral per annum.
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Goyal also spoke about the possibilities that hydro power brings in as a renewable energy source. He said India’s manufacturing sector should start considering hydro power capacity as a potential alternative source of energy.
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