Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco Industries Managing Director Satish Pai said that the company is looking to leverage its expertise to expand its presence in the critical minerals chain. The company has applied for exploration rights for land blocks where rare earth metals such as lithium and nickle can be mined.
Speaking with Outlook Business on the sidelines of Exchange 2024 organised by Hindalco and Xynteo, the MD said that the company is looking at the technology to process the minerals. “We have put up a team to explore whether it can be viably mined,” he said.
Pai said that the wakeup call for the segment in India was the realisation of dependence on China. He opined that the country must explore more in the segment as the demand for metals in India is going up at a high rate.
Hindalco reported its third quarter results last week in which the company reported a 71 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,331 crore. The aluminium upstream EBITDA came in at Rs 2,443 crore, a rise of 54 per cent compared to the year ago period. Copper EBITDA also rose 20 per cent year on year to Rs 656 crore.
Pai said that the focus right now is on how to deliver sustainable growth. The company aims to achieve 30 per cent of its power requirement through green energy sources by 2030. To meet this target, Pai said that Hindalco is looking to sign hybrid deals which can help provide a mix of solar and wind, along with some storage capacity. “Belgaum plant should be live soon where energy requirements are being met through solar and wind.”
The company has also recently acquired a 26 per cent stake in Ayana Renewables Energy to develop and operate a power generation plant using solar, wind and pumped hydro to meet requirements of its smelter in Odisha. The plant will provide 100 MW energy with 85 per cent load factor. “This is a fairly unique arrangement. If this works, then it can revolutionise smelting in India,” he said.
