Vedanta urges Odisha government to secure bauxite for refinery survival

Vedanta, on Thursday September 3, urged the Odisha government to secure bauxite in order to make its Kalahandi-based refinery survive against all odds in the international aluminium market.

"Our submission before the state government is very clear. We have told them...Please secure bauxite as early as possible for survival," Vedanta Resource Plc. Tom Albanese told reporters after his team met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here this evening.

The aluminium major which has a "world class" refinery and a "world class smelter" in Odisha, during discussion with the chief minister pointed out that they have no bauxite reserve to run the facilities.

The company has already announced that it has started the process of closure of the refinery due to acute scarcity of the raw material though its 1 MTPA plant sits on the bauxite reserve in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.

Asked about any assurance from the Chief Minister, Vedanta CEO Albanese said: "We had a very positive discussion... Therefore, we are optimistic that some... solution will come out to resolve raw material crisis."

While terming the raw material crisis at its Lanjigarh refinery plant as "very serious", Albanese said the company has been incurring huge cash loss.

"We are sustaining cash loss on each ton of alumina being producted at Lanjigarh," he said.

He said that the company had been struggling for the bauxite since its inception.

"Ten years of struggle is certainly a long period," he said to a question whether they would continue in buisiness banking on the "positive mood" at the meeting.

"Ten years of struggle is certainly a long period," he said to a question whether they would continue in buisiness banking on the "positive mood" at the meeting.