Vedanta Plans $2.1 Billion Smelter

Vedanta plans $2.1 billion smelter

Times of India

17th December 2005

LONDON: Vedanta Resources Plc will build a new 500,000 tonnes-a-year aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda in the Indian state of Orissa at a cost of $2.1 billion, the London-listed copper and zinc miner said on Friday.

The India-based miner said the smelter, together with a 1,215 megawatt captive power plant, would raise its smelting capacity to 900,000 tonnes a year, placing it among the largest integrated producers of aluminium worldwide.

"The Jharsuguda project further enhances our ability to produce aluminium at costs that are in the lowest quartile of the industry cost-curve,"Vedanta's executive chairman Anil Agarwal said in a statement.

Vedanta is rapidly ramping up capacity to take advantage of regional growth.