Bauxite-rich East Coast region hasn’t seen a single mine open in 30 years. The East Coast region, home to 74% of the total bauxite reserves, continues to be one of the most-neglected regions in the country, as not a single bauxite mine has been opened in the past three decades.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a statutory body under the Union ministry of power, is planning to save 2,308 Mw of energy worth around Rs 11,540 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) by mandating the labelling of electronic products. Of this, 400 Mw, worth Rs 2,000 crore, is expected to be saved from the air-conditioners segment.

The central government has already mandated four products – split air-conditioners, fluorescent lamps, transformers and frost-free refrigerators – under the energy efficiency star-labelling to reduce energy consumption, and identified 10 products on a voluntary basis.

Nalco chairman B L Bagra says the proposed plant will be executed in phases

State-owned Nalco is looking to set up a new aluminium smelting facility of 5 lakh tonnes and 1,250 MW captive power plant in Odisha's Sundargarh district at an investment of Rs 18,000 crore, a top company official said.

Vedanta Aluminium Ltd has sought a level playing field by seeking a waiver on public hearings on grounds that they were conducted twice — in 2003 and 2009 — to build the refinery and smelter. The union ministry for environment and forest had early last month asked the Anil Agarwal-owned company to seek public consent afresh in Odisha’s Kalahandi district as a precursor to getting environmental clearance for expanding its alumina refinery and power plant, which had been stalled for two years.

MD assures portfolio of aluminium, copper will help the company in difficult times

Aluminium, on the London Metal Exchange (LME), has been falling since the beginning of the year. So has been the core earnings of Hindalco Industries and in turn, the profits. The company maintains that its two businesses, aluminium and copper, complement each other well. D Bhattacharya, managing director, Hindalco Industries, says,

The State-owned aluminium major NALCO plans to spend Rs 900 crore by next fiscal on nuclear power ventures, for which it had signed a joint-venture agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) in November.

As per the plan, the investments will be made on unit 3 and 4 of Kakarapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat, a senior company official said, adding that both the units are of 700 MW each.

The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has urged the State and Central governments to drop proposals for mining bauxite in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam.

There was widespread opposition from people belonging to the plains and tribes who had not given their consent for bauxite mining.

Hyderabad In a fresh setback to Vedanta Aluminium (VAL), an associate company of the globally-diversified mining group Vedanta Resources, the environment ministry has put off the issue of terms of reference for the expansion of the company’s Lanjigarh refinery project. The issuance is necessary to conduct environment impact assessment (EIA) study for VAL’s alumina refinery project.

The MoEF took the decision in view of the review petition which VAL had filed before the Orissa High Court seeking reconsideration of the court’s decision to stop the expansion.

BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Environment and Forests has sanctioned stage-II and final level clearance to National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) for diversion of 110.3 hectares of forest land for bauxite mining lease in Koraput.

 The forest diversion was required for the renewal of its mining lease for 20 years in Panchpatmali South Block. The original lease period was for 30 years. Since the Navratna PSU has embarked upon a slew of expansion projects, this forest clearance will help enhance its production capacity.