By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 23, 2016 : Metal major National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) – a Navratna public sector unit and Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) on Monday have signed an MoU to jointly explore the possibility of setting up an Aluminium smelter in Iran, with supply of alumina from NALCO’s refinery in India.

The MoU was signed between chairman and managing director, NALCO and Vice Chairman, Planning Board, Iran, in Tehran in presence of Prime Minister of India and President of Iran, a Nalco press release said.

The MoU also envisages tolling arrangement with existing smelters in Iran for producing Aluminium from alumina supplied by NALCO, inter alia, it proposes to look into other business collaborations as well.

Chand said, “NALCO looks forward to using the low-cost gas-based energy available in Iran for conversion of its surplus alumina, presently exported to international markets, to bring in value addition and scale up value chain.”

Under this MoU, a joint taskforce comprising NALCO and IMIDRO experts will be constituted to work out the details.

Mr. N.R. Mohanty, Director (Projects & Technical) and Dr. B.K. Satpathy, Executive Director (Business Development), NALCO, were part of the delegation led by Dr. Chand.