Orissa government grants prospecting lease to Sesa Sterlite for two laterite deposits

Sesa Sterlite has been granted the prospecting license by the Orissa government to work on two laterite deposit that will yield the necessary raw materials for the 1 million tonne per annum alumina refinery set up in Lanjigarh by the Anil Agarwal owned company.

Sesa Sterlite earlier had to import raw materials from outside the state which translated into great losses for the company because of the high import and transportation costs.

The laterite deposits that are spread across a 47-hectare land in Dangdeula village of Karaput will now be accessible by the company thanks to the two prospecting licences issue by the state steel and mines department last week. The company hopes that this would help bring down the cost of production a great deal.

According to Deepak Mohanty, the state director of mining, the laterite soils contain 20 to 25% of aluminium oxide which, when combined with good quality bauxite, can be used to produce alumina.

Sesa has been facing problems since it cannot mine the Niyamagiri hilltop worth around 72 million tonnes of bauxite due to opposition from the Dongaria Kondh tribals.

Despite the scares bauxite resources, the Lanjigarh plant is running at an 80-90% capacity. Sesa’s recent tripartite agreement with Larsen & Turbo and its partner Dubai Aluminium Company to buy Raykal Aluminium, the company hopes to be able to tap some bauxite from the L&T captive mines in in Sijimali and Kuturumali of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts. However, they have not yet graduated from prospective lease to mining lease status.