Bhubaneswar, June 08: Sterlite Industries Limited (SIL) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for establishment of a Rs.4,000 crore bauxite mining and alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh in the backward Kalahandi district. The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Sterlite Group chairman, Anil Agarwal here. The new refinery would have an initial alumina production capacity of one million tonne per annum with associated bauxite mining facilities, the chief minister and Agarwal told a joint news conference later.
The alumina refinery, the foundation of which would be laid by the chief minister today, was being built with infrastructure to expand to 1.4 million tonnes based on the 150 million tonnes of bauxite deposits as committed by the Orissa government for this project. The refinery was being set up to meet the growing demand of alumina to meet the expected increase in aluminum production internationally. Almost half of the total alumina produced in the plant would be exported and rest would be used for captive consumption. Initially, mining will commence from the Lanjigarh bauxite deposit. Sterlite would construct a 100 MW power plant to meet the power requirement of the refinery, Agarwal said. Bureau Report