Nalco, MIDHANI plan to set up lithium-aluminium alloy plant

India's state-owned aluminium maker National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and the Defence Ministry's Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (MIDHANI) are in talks to set up an aluminium-lithium alloy plant.

Lithium is the hottest metal today, with its demand underlined by the Space X and Tesla ventures of maverick entrepreneur Elon Musk. Lithium-aluminium alloys meet the extremely strong but very light properties required for spacecraft and high-performance Tesla batteries. The tanks of freezing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen attached to NASA's space shuttles are made of such alloys.

"Lithium-aluminium alloy is an extremely expensive alloy (sells for around INR 40 lakh a tonne)," Nalco Chairman Tapan Kumar Chand told ET. "More importantly, it is critical to our strategic sectors. Given the 'Make in India' push in the defence sector and the plans of an energised ISRO, we see a good domestic market for this product."

Using titanium, nickel and cobalt for their anti-corrosive and high strength to weight ratios, MIDHANI makes special metals and super alloys used in nuclear, defence, aviation and biomedical implants. Apart from being a supplier, it has also joined hands with Bharat Heavy Electricals and Hindustan Shipyards to build submarines.

A feasibility report for the project and the high-end applications of the alloy in defence, aerospace and automobile sectors is being prepared by MIDHANI. "Once project boundaries are firmed up, both companies are expected to sign the JV — may be within the next six months," Chand said. He expects the facility, to be built in phases, to cost about INR 4,000 crore. "The low-volume, high-value business could be built with a mother alloy plant at the Smelter and Power complex at Angul, Odisha and high-end alloy at MIDHANI's Hyderabad plant," he said.