NALCO POISED TO BECOME A KEY PLAYER IN INTERNATIONALMARKET
ACHIEVES A MAJOR MILESTONE WIH
COMPLETION OF CAPACITY EXPANSION
The Union Minister
for Coal & Mines Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, formally dedicated
the alumina refinery expansion of Nalco to the nation in the presence
of Orissa chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik. Nalco, India’s leading
producer and exporter of alumina, achieved a major milestone with
the completion of capacity expansion of its alumina refinery at
Damanjodi. The approved capacity cost of Rs. 1664.60 crore on
mines and alumina expansion has been funded entirely out of internal
resources.
The Minister informed
that the alumina capacity has now increased from 8 lakh tonnes
to 15.57 lakh tonnes. The capacity of Bauxite mines, which supplies
ore to this refinery, has already been doubled to 48 lakh tonnes
in December 1999.
The brownfield
expansion of alumina complex involving modernization and debottlenecking
of existing two streams of 400.000 tonne per year capacity each,
is designed to achieve 31% higher production. It also involves
addition of a new stream having a capacity 5,25,000 tpy. A number
of energy efficient and highly productive process innovations
including pre-desilication facility have been introduced in the
alumina refinery in technical collaboration with Aluminium Pechiney
of France.
Under the current spate of capacity
expansions, Nalco’s internal consumption of alumina may jump 4,60,000
tonnes to 7,00,000 tonnes when its smelter capacity goes up from
2,30,000 tpy to 3,45,000 tpy. The company known as one of the
lowest cost alumina producers in the world, has so far exported
64.48 lakh tonnes of alumina on cumulative basis, earning Rs.4197.46
crore in foreign exchange by the end of 2001-02 fiscal. With the
large-scale expansion of the alumina refinery, Nalco is poised
to become a key player in the international market, with nearly
a million tonnes of alumina available as exportable surplus per
year. To manage larger volumes of exports, the company’s Port
facilities at Vizag have also undergone necessary modifications
and additions at a cost of Rs. 29 crore.
Nalco has captive
bauxite mines on Panchpatmali Hill with bauxite deposit estimated
to be 310 million tonnes. The ore excavation and transportation
capacity has also been expanded from 24 lakh tpa to 48 lakh tpa
at a capital investment of Rs. 120.59 crore. Bauxite ore is directly
fed to refinery through a single flight cable belt conveyor spanning
14.6 km over the hills and valleys. The 900 tonnes per hour ore
delivery capacity of this unique pollution free conveyor system
has been doubled to meet the higher demand of the expanded refinery.
The low cost of
expansion and substantial internal funding of the capital will
ensure lower production cost of alumina, which has been the hallmark
of Nalco in the field of alumina production in the world.
