Vedanta has put its alumina refinery expansion plan at Lanjigarh, in Kalahandi district of Odisha, on the back burner.

The project has been put on hold even as the company is mulling sourcing bauxite from other sources away from Niyamgiri hills to feed its existing and future operations. Vedanta’s expansion plan is on hold while its application to obtain fresh environmental clearance is being processed.

The expansion project envisages capacity augmentation of the refinery from one million tpa to three million tpa. The project will also include a 210 MW captive power plant. It entails an investment of Rs 5,000 crore. 

The production at Lanjigarh plant recommenced in July 2013, after a temporary shutdown and the refinery operated at 91 per cent capacity in the last quarter of FY14. As per the MoU, the state government was required to make 150 million tonne of bauxite, a key raw material for alumina production, available for the company.

Meanwhile, the ministry of environment & forests rejected the grant of forest clearance for the Niyamgiri mining project after local gram sabhas rejected the mining proposal. After this, Vedanta decided not to consider developing any bauxite resources in Niyamgiri mines without the consent of the local communities.

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