Vedanta says will close Langigarh refinery

"We are planning to serve the notice to the state's labour department tomorrow in order to shut down the refinery plant from first week of December. A three-month notice for closure is mandatory under the industrial dispute act," Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of VAL told PTI.

"If situation improves within 90 days, the company may not shut down the plant," he said, adding the company would like to close the plant till it is able to arrange bauxite for operating the mill.

A subsidiary of the London-based Vedanta Resources, VAL had been struggling to keep the refinery operational for the last 15 days, Kumar said, adding that they have zero stock till today.

The company had been running its refinery plant since its inception in 2007 by sourcing bauxite from other states including Gujarat, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. However, it was is possible now to avail the bauxite due to different reasons.

Kumar said the plant was running at 40-50 per cent of its capacity in the month of August. The company was assured of bauxite supply by the state government during signing of the MoU. "However, we have not received a gram of bauxite from the state so far. The company required 10,000 tonnes of bauxite everyday," Kumar said.