Nalco to rope in consultant for Rs 16,000 cr aluminum project

　　Country's second largest aluminum producer National Aluminum Company Ltd. will soon rope in a consultant to undertake the detailed project report for its Rs 16,000 crore-proposed aluminum smelter and captive power plant in Orissa. 　　The Bhubaneswar-based company has already invited proposals from consultants to prepare the detailed project report for the greenfield aluminum smelter and 1,260 Mw captive power unit to be set up at the Jharsuguda district of Orissa. 　　The proposed 0.5 million tons per annum capacity aluminum smelter would come up in two phases of 0.25 million tons each, a senior Nalco official said. 　　He said, the company has sought the state's approval for providing land and water for the proposed project, which is likely to fructify in about five years span. 　　Nalco would need about 1,000 acres of land for setting up the aluminum smelter and power plant. 　　Its water requirement would be pegged at about 1.2 lakh cubic meter per day. 　　To meet energy and other raw material requirements of the smelter, Nalco plans to procure thermal coal from Mahanadi Coalfields and alumina from its Damanjodi refinery. 　　In the first phase, Nalco's annual alumina requirement would be 0.5 million tons whereas for running the smelter at full capacity, it would need 1 million tons of alumina. 　　At present, Nalco produces about 3.5 lakh tons of aluminum and 1.6 million tons of alumina per annum. 　　Within six months, however, the company plans to scale up its aluminum production to 4.6 lakh tons and that of alumina to 2.1 million tons. 　　The aluminum major intends to export part of the metal produced from the proposed smelter through Vishakhapatnam port, where it has a dedicated berth and port facilities. (100.00 INR = 2.36027 USD) 　　(Source: Business Standard)