By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, Jul 13, 2016 : Navaratna public sector aluminium major National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has been granted Pottangi Bauxite Mines, in Koraput district of Odisha, where the company’s 22,75,000-tonne alumina refinery is located.  

The Pottangi mines with about 70 million tonnes of bauxite reserve would feed Nalco’s proposed refinery project of one million-tonne-capacity at Damanjodi. The mine is spread over an area of 1,738 hectares for a period of 50 years, a company release said here on Wednesday.

It said an order in this regard was issued by the state’s Department of Steel and Mines recently. “As per a recent order issued by Department of Steel and Mines, Odisha government, Nalco has been granted the mining lease of Pottangi with an area covering 1,738 hectares for 50 years,” said a Nalco statement.

Speaking on the occasion, NALCO’s CMD Tapan Kumar Chand said now it is the company’s turn to live up to the expectations of both Centre and State, as also the people of Odisha, through expansion, investment and CSR initiatives.

NALCO’s expansion plans, including the proposed addition of 5th stream in its existing Alumina Refinery at an investment of Rs 5,600 crore, greatly depends on this additional source of Bauxite.

Notably, the proposal of Nalco for setting up of a one mtpa alumina refinery (stream-5) at Damanjodi was approved by Nalco Board on December 10, 2014.