Hindalco Orissa refinery start delayed to March
Slow progress of Rayagada project behind delay; plant was to begin operations this month
Bhubaneswar: Non-ferrous metals producer Hindalco Industries Ltd plans to start its 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery in Orissa by the end of March 2013, a company official said on Wednesday.
The plant, in Orissa’s Rayagada district, was scheduled to start operations in January, but has been delayed due to slow progress of project work.
“We hope to commission the plant by end of March," S.K. Mishra, a senior advisor at Utkal Alumina International Ltd (UAIL), a wholly-owned unit of Hindalco, told Reuters.
Hindalco’s bauxite mining in the state, which was scheduled to start in October 2012, has also been delayed and may start by the end of this month, Mishra said.
The company initially aims to mine 4.3 to 4.4 mtpa of bauxite for the refinery, though it has permission to mine 8.5 million tonnes.
Hindalco, part of the Aditya Birla Group, is in the midst of trebling aluminium capacity to 1.9 million tonnes by 2013 at a cost of about $5 billion. Its US-based subsidiary Novelis is the world’s largest producer of rolled aluminium products.
On Wednesday, Hindalco shares closed 4.4% lower at ₹ 123.40 in a Mumbai market that fell nearly 1%.
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