Vedanta considering revival of Malco unit

This comes as Vedanta plans to raise alumunium capacity utilisation from the current 900,000 tonnes annually to 3.3 million tonnes

Vedanta, the natural resources mining entity, says it is contemplating if it is possible to revive The Madras Aluminium Company (Malco). While ruling out any aluminium production, it says it is discussing internally if the Malco unit in Tamil Nadu could be used for recycling purposes.

Malco used to be a major aluminium producer, encompassing mining, refining and smelting. Currently, it is only into power generation. Tom Albanese, chief executive officer, Vedanta Resources, said: “The cost of aluminum smelting would make that non-viable, given its scale and the difficult stage of the sector, globally. I would be interested if Malco can be turned into a casting or recycling (of scrap) plant.”

This comes as Vedanta plans to raise aluminium capacity utilisation from the current 900,000 tonnes annually to 3.3 million tonnes. It has invested around $8 billion (Rs 53,000 crore) in the past 10 years in this business.

Over 2015-16, Vedanta Resources merged its Indian subsidiaries (Sesa Goa, Sterlite Industries, Malco, Sterlite Energy and Vedanta Aluminium) into one entity, a new company called Sesa Sterlite. Early this year, it won the first-ever auction for a gold mine prospecting-cum-mining lease in the country, at Chhattisgarh.

Albanese said: "We would like to explore more. The focus would be bauxite auctions, as we are short of bauxite. Any metal or energy resources would interest us.”

The company has floated a new firm VedEX (Vedanta Exploration) early this year. The company won the auction for Baghmara (Sonakhan) gold mine with its highest bid of 12.55 per cent of IBM (Indian Bureau of Mining).