Vedanta Aims to Get Bauxite from EGA in July 2019

Metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Ltd hopes to get its first consignment of bauxite from Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) by July 2019.

The Anil Agarwal controlled Group had inked an agreement with EGA for importing 4 million of the raw material each year. The bauxite will be sourced from mines in Guinea where EGA has stakes.

EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) is building a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in Guinea, in one of the largest greenfield investments in the country in the past 40 years.

First bauxite exports from the GAC project are expected during the second half of 2019. Once full-ramp up is achieved, GAC is expected to produce some 12 million tonnes of bauxite per year.

Much of Guinea’s bauxite is amongst the highest quality worldwide.

“The supplies of bauxite from EGA will begin from July 2019 onward. The supply will be ramped up in tune with our increasing requirement”, said a Vedanta executive.

Vedanta has pledged Rs 6400 crore investment on its Lanjigarh refinery in Odisha to scale up capacity to 6 MTPA. The refinery’s current de-bottle necked capacity is 2 MTPA.

Initially, the refinery will be upgraded to a capacity of 4 MTPA. This milestone is expected to be achieved by the middle of calendar 2020. The refinery ramp up will also help Vedanta to cut it’s over dependence on imported alumina. Each year, Vedanta imports close to 2 MnT  of the intermediate product to feed its smelters at Jharsuguda (Odisha) and the BALCO unit located at Korba (Chhattisgarh).

Vedanta has firmed up bauxite sourcing arrangements with state controlled Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). As per this agreement, 70% of the bauxite mine by the PSU at its captive Kodingamali mine will be lifted by Vedanta for its Lanjigarh facility.

From next quarter onwards, Vedanta expects to draw 250,000 tonnes of bauxite per month from the OMC mine which is being ramped up. That apart, Vedanta is also  taking part in bauxite auctions conducted by OMC on MSTC platform twice a year. Vedanta, as a measure in long-term bauxite security, aims to bid for the ensuing bauxite blocks on offer at auctions, especially in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.