Asia's largest integrated aluminium complex, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco), has floated tenders for appointment of a consultant to prepare the detailed project report for its proposed Rs16,345-crore aluminum smelter-cum-power plant project  to be set up at the Jharsuguda district of Orissa, which has been cleared by the state government.

Nalco says it would need about 1,000 acres of land for setting up the aluminium smelter and power plant. The proposed 0.5 million tonnes per annum capacity aluminium smelter is scheduled to come up in two phases of 0.25 million tones each.

The company has sought the state's approval for providing land and water for the proposed project, which would it has pegged at about 1.2 lakh cubic metre per day.  
 
Nalco produces about 3.5 lakh tonnes of aluminium and 1.6 million tonnes of alumina per annum at present. The company plans to scale up its aluminium production to 4.6 lakh tonnes and that of alumina to 2.1 million tones within six months.    

The aluminium major intends to export part of the metal produced from the proposed smelter through its dedicated berth and port facilities Vishakhapatnam port.

Nalco plans to set up bauxite mine and refinery complex in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of Rs7000 crore, with a 42-lakh tonne per anum mining capacity and a 14-lakh tonne refining capacity.

Nalco plans to set up a 3.1 lakh ton per year smelter In Iran,  at an investment of Rs4000 crore. The company has signed a memorandum of agreement for forming a joint venture with Iran's Alpha, in which the Kerman Development Organisation (KDO) is a major partner. M N Dastur has been selected as a consultant for this project.

At the start of the year, NALCO had signed an MoU with the government of Indonesia, for setting up a 5-lakh tonne smelter and a 1250 MW captive power plant. M N Dastur, which is also Nalco's consultant for the Indonesian project, has recommended the Tanjung Api-Api site based on a preliminary site-survey and studies for the Rs14,000 crore smelter project.

The second phase expansion is under implementation at an investment of Rs4,092 crore, which is scheduled to be completed by 2008 end. The company has also drawn ambitious plans to invest around Rs40,000 crore in various greenfield projects in India and abroad, including Indonesia, South Africa and Iran.

Nalco has reported Profit After Tax of Rs.525.33 crore for the Q1 ended 30 June, registering an increase of 17.6 per cent over Rs446.66 crore achieved in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. The turnover recorded a  jump of 24.8 per cent to Rs1,606.41 crore from Rs1,287.12 crore achieved in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

NALCO sales rose to 221,405 MT of alumina in Q1 compared to  207,765 MT in the corresponding period a year ago. Also aluminium sales increased from 75,858 MT to 84,103 MT during the comparable quarter.