By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: Utkal Alumina International Ltd. (UAIL) is likely to start production at its 1.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery in Odisha in March, a senior company official said Saturday.
The green field project at Doragurha near the district headquarters town of Rayagada, 400 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, was earlier scheduled for commissioning in January.
“It has been delayed due to slow progress. We expect to start production by the end of March,” the official told IANS.
UAIL, a subsidiary of Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco Industries, plans to send the alumina produced at the Rayagada refinery to two upcoming Hindalco smelter plants in Odisha’s Sambalpur district and Mahan plant in Madhya Pradesh, he said.
The company may start extracting bauxite from its mines Sambalpur by the end of this month. “Over burden removal operation started Nov and bauxite extraction is expected by the end of this month,” the official added.
The mine at Baphilimali hills has a bauxite reserve of about 200 million tonnes. Although Utkal Alumina has permission to mine 8.5 million tonnes per annum, it aims to mine 4.5 million tonnes per annum initially.