July 19，an Indian court rejected Vedanta Resources Plc (VED)’s petition to allow the expansion of its alumina refinery, further delaying a proposed $8.4 billion investment by the nation’s biggest aluminum producer.
Unit Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. will decide on the next course of action after studying the full verdict of the Orissa high court, company lawyer Manoj Mishra said today by phone. The government halted the expansion at Lanjigarh in the eastern state on Oct. 21 for violating forestry rules.
Vedanta, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, won approval from the Orissa government on Aug. 10 to expand the refinery’s capacity sixfold to 6 million metric tons. Two weeks later, the environment ministry said Vedanta’s refinery may be sourcing bauxite from mines without environmental approvals and asked the London-based company to justify why the permit for the refinery should not be canceled.
The environment ministry stopped construction at Lanjigarh in October and placed conditions on the running of an existing 1 million ton refinery. A proposal to raise the capacity of a dedicated power plant to 300 megawatts from 75 megawatts was also denied.
Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer of Vedanta Aluminium, didn’t answer two calls made to his mobile phone.
Vedanta rose as much as 3.1 percent to 1,850 pence in London and traded at 1,845 pence as of 1:21 p.m. local time. The shares have declined 27 percent this year, compared with a 2.1 percent drop in the benchmark FTSE 100 Index.
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