Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Vedanta to build $2B smelter in India
By agencies
|
Friday, 16 December 2005, 20:30 IST
LONDON: Vedanta Resources Plc, India's largest producer of copper and zinc, said it would build a $2.1 billion aluminum smelter and power plant in eastern India, more than doubling its production capacity within five years.
Construction of the 500,000-ton-a-year smelter and 1,215 megawatt power plant to run it will begin in June and be completed by the end of 2010, the London-based company said today in a statement.
The smelters in Jharsuguda, Orissa, will take Vedanta's annual production capacity to 900,000 tons. Vedanta is expanding its metals output to feed India's growing appetite for raw materials. Aluminum reached a 16-year high in London this month.
Vedanta has already announced a $900 million expansion at its BALCO aluminum plant and is building an$800 million alumina production complex in Orissa.
Alumina, derived from bauxite, is used to make aluminum. ``The Jharsuguda project is the next phase of our growth in becoming a million ton-per-annum producer,'' Chairman Anil Agarwal said.
Orissa contains more than 70 percent of the nation's bauxite, from which alumina is refined.