India's BALCO to set up 650,000 T aluminium smelter

India's Bharat Aluminium Co., a unit of UK-based Vedanta Resources Plc. (VED.L: Quote, Profile , Research), said on Wednesday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the state of Chhattisgarh for a new 650,000 tonne aluminium smelter. The new unit to be set up in the state's Korba town will cost 81 billion rupees ($2 billion), BALCO said in a statement. BALCO already runs two smelters in Korba which have an aluminium production capacity of 345,000 tonnes. "On completion this will become the largest single location aluminium plant in this part of the world with a combined capacity of 1.0 million tonnes," the statement said. London-listed Vedanta has aluminium, zinc, copper, silver and lead operations in India, Australia and Zambia. "We aim to become the lowest cost producer of aluminium in the whole world," the statement quoted Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta as saying. The statement did not give a time-frame for the completion of the project.