Hindalco rolls up the value chain

Rising aluminium prices are strengthening the metals producer's focus on adding value, from bauxite mining to value-added products

Aluminium-to-copper producer Hindalco could make 1.3 million tonnes (mt) of the silvery white metal and 2.9 mt of smelter feedstock alumina during 2016-17 as its two greenfield smelters, each with a capacity of 360,000 tonnes in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, and the 1.5 mt refinery in Odisha operated for the first time at rated capacity. Thus, Hindalco was able to execute three big projects — the alumina refinery also involved opening a bauxite mine at Baphlimali with proven resources of 200 mt — simultaneously when the country had many instances of NGOs turning hostile to moves to build new aluminium