India’s National Aluminium Company (NALCO) is planning to invest over ₹30,000 crore (US$17.7 billion) through 2028 on expanding and diversifying the organization.
India’s Union minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi made the announcement last week at an anniversary event for the firm.
“With the ambitious growth plans that Nalco has for the future, it will contribute significantly to the alumina and aluminium sectors having a multiplier effect in the production and consumption of this strategic metal and achieve Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
The biggest single investment will be to build expanding operations at its Angul facility and augmenting it with a 1400 megawatt (MW) captive power plant (CPP) at the site. The balance is to be used on expanding alumina refining capacity, further development at its Patangi bauxite mine, and a new system for transporting materials from its south block to the Utkal D and E coal mines.
Upon completion of development at the Patangi bauxite mine, output will have increased by 3.2 million metric tons per annum to a total of 10.5 million metric tons per annum.
“It’s useful existence of sustainable growth reflects the fact that Nalco has matured in the business cycle and now expansion should be in the pipeline to take Nalco to the next level of excellence,” Joshi continued.
Since its beginning in the early 1980s, NALCO has tripled production and evolved into the most efficient producer of alumina on Earth. Joshi noted that the firm has thrived despite the myriad of challenges it faced last year.
Also part of the coming investments into the firm is the previously-announced aluminium park planned for Angul. The 233-acre park is planned to house downstream and ancillary industries to the plant, and enterprises who build at the park will be able to receive molten aluminium directly from the NALCO smelter.