Hindalco’s Utkal Alumina refinery expansion was inaugurated on Sunday at Kashipur in Rayagada district, Odisha, India. The plant’s expansion will improve the refinery’s annual capacity by 0.5 MMT/yr to 2 MMT/yr alumina production.
Situated at the tribal hinterland of Odisha, the expansion unit is built with an investment of Rs 1500 crores ($203.7 million).
According to official statement, Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, who participated in this virtual inauguration along with Hindalco MD Satish Pai, said the group will invest about Rs 7,200 crores ($977.8 million) across various businesses including Rs 3,000 crores ($407.4 million) to set up a flat-rolled product (FRP) plant, a downstream unit at Hirakud in Sambalpur district.
The FRP unit will have an annual production capacity of 375,000 MT and share the same technology of its American subsidiary Novelis, claimed the company.
In January 2020, the state government had approved Hindalco’s Rs 8000 crores ($1.09 billion) proposal for a second greenfield alumina refinery at Kansariguda in Rayagada district.
Sources said the company is in the process of acquiring additional 600 acres in addition to 1500 acres already possessed by the company for the new unit.
The company which has a captive mine at Baphlimali is not participating in the upcoming auction of a bauxite deposit at Karalapat. Company officials said they are counting on the government to assure them raw material for this refinery, hopefully from the nearby Kodingamali bauxite mine.