By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 23, 2015 : The metal major public sector National Aluminium Company Ltd [NALCO] on Wednesday signed an agreement with Chaleico of China, for undertaking research and development [R&D] in various fields of mutual interest.

Projects to be taken up by these two companies include, separation of iron concentrate from Red Mud and extraction of Gallium from Bayer Liquor.

“Extraction of marketable iron concentrate from Red Mud will be our first R&D project with Chaleico. This will be a major step in extracting value out of Red Mud, which is otherwise treated as an industrial waste,” said Mr Tapan Kumar Chand, Nalco chairman and managing director.

“On successful completion of the project, the efforts will be commercialized through a demonstration plant,” Mr Chand added.

The agreement was signed by Dr. B.K. Satpathy, Executive Director (Business Development), Nalco and Mr Guo Pu, General Manager, Chaleico, in presence of Mr Chand.