Mumbai: Vedanta, the most important aluminium producer in India, will quickly grow to be the bottom value producer of the silver-white metallic on the earth as the corporate works on backward integration of its provide chain, together with acquisition of extra coal mines, based on John Slaven, the chief government of the corporate’s aluminium enterprise.
The corporate additionally has agency plans of increasing its manufacturing capability to three million tonnes (MT) a yr from 2.4mt at current in 18-24 months. It’s also engaged on increasing capability “considerably past that,” Slaven stated.
“Immediately, Vedanta Aluminium is within the first decile on the worldwide value curve, and as we full the backward integration, it actually places us within the completely lowest value place on the earth,” Slaven advised Mint. Throughout the October-December quarter, Vedanta’s value of aluminium manufacturing got here down by 20% from a yr in the past to $1,735 per tonne, he added.
“It is a money engine, and we are going to more and more grow to be extra of a money engine as we transfer ahead,” he stated.
The corporate has two aluminium smelters—one every in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Whereas the previous produces 600,000 tonnes a yr, the latter produces 1.8 MT.
The corporate additionally has a 2 MT a yr alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha that feeds its two smelters. It’s engaged on increasing refinery capability to six MT, which can make it self-sufficient for smelting 3 MT of aluminium, Slaven stated, serving to additional decrease its prices.
The corporate can be engaged on ramping up the mining of bauxite and coal, Slaven stated. Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is extracted. The corporate is trying to purchase extra mines that might enable it to broaden past 3 MT a yr of refined metallic manufacturing, he stated. This can scale back the comp-any’s reliance on open marketplace for these uncooked supplies, additional enhancing its value efficiencies.
Vedanta’s aluminium operations are concentrated in japanese India in Odisha and Jharkhand with quick access to ports in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, serving to the corporate scale back its logistics overheads. Slaven, who has labored at US’ Alcoa and Australia’s BHP, ter-med these belongings as essentially the most distinctive when it comes to their proximity to uncooked supplies and having a tightly knit provide chain.
Supply: Live Mint