Vedanta plans to expand refinery capacity to 6 mtpa.

Vedanta Resources Plc said it plans to raise capacity of its Lanjigarh Alumina refinery to 6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) with an investment of Rs. 10,000 crore.

Talking to reporters after meeting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal said doubling of the present plant capacity to 2 mtpa would be done within a year of getting all the clearances.

Ramping up the capacity further to 6 mtpa would depend upon the availability of bauxite, a key raw material for making alumina, he said, adding that the company would be investing Rs. 10,000 crore for the capacity expansion.

Vedanta, which had set up 1 mtpa refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district seven years ago, had been facing an acute shortage of bauxite and presently importing the raw materials from other states and countries to feed its plant. The company had to shut down the plant for some months due to shortage of bauxite in 2012.

BS