India’s Balco signs MoU on major expansion

Indian aluminium producer Balco has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state of Chhattisgarh on a major expansion of its Korba smelting complex, according to local media reports. Balco, which is 51% owned by UK-listed Vedanta Resources and 49% by the Indian government, completed late last year the commissioning of a new 245,000tpy smelter at Korba, lifting capacity to 345,000tpy. The MoU provides for a further investment of US$2 billion to lift capacity by a further 650,000tpy, bringing total capacity at the Korba complex close to the one million tpy level.