Hindalco to expand smelting capacity
To complete commissioning potlines by September 2004
India's largest aluminium maker, Hindalco Industries, is likely to complete an ongoing expansion of smelting capacity by September 2004. According to a company official, the company is in the process of raising the capacity of its smelter in Renukoot in Uttar Pradesh to 342,000 tonnes a year from 242,000 tonnes. It will complete commissioning all three potlines by September 2004.
The expansion entails setting up three lines of electrolytic pots, which are used to smelt alumina to produce aluminium metal. Each potline, which contains 180 pots, produces about 33,000 tonnes of aluminium. Hindalco has already set up one line, plans to add another by end-2002, and the third one by September 2004, the official said.
As part of the expansion, Hindalco expects to produce 285,000 tonnes of aluminium in the year to March 2003 and further raise its alumina capacity by about 47 percent to 660,000 tonnes a year by March 2004, the official disclosed.
