National Aluminium May Get Permit for South India Bauxite Mine

June 9 (Bloomberg) -- National Aluminium Co., India’s biggest alumina maker, may win a license in the next three months to mine bauxite in Andhra Pradesh, securing raw material for its planned $800 million alumina plant in the southern state. “The government is likely to grant permission by September,” Chairman C.R. Pradhan said in a telephone interview today. “There’s enough demand for alumina globally so there’s a market there for us.” National Aluminium is eyeing Andhra Pradesh’s rich reserve of bauxite, which is turned into alumina and then aluminum to be used in beverage cans, automobiles and aircraft. Sales of alumina is rising as the global economy emerges from the deepest slump since World War II. Alumina prices gained more than 18 percent since April, according to the U.K.-based Metal Bulletin. India’s bauxite reserves are the fifth-largest in the world, according to National Aluminium. The deposits are mainly concentrated in the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Aluminum sales to carmakers and builders in China, the world’s largest consumer, is gaining, according to the Chinese unit of Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer. United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest, said on June 2 it expects prices to gain significantly from the third quarter after rising stockpiles prompted smelters to curb output. National Aluminium shares rose as much as 5.4 percent to 344.9 rupees in Mumbai and traded at 337 rupees, up 3 percent, as of 12:52 p.m. The shares have risen 78 percent this year, outpacing the key Sensitive Index’s 56 percent gain.