October 2012

Bauxite-Alumina Industry of India

Ashok Nandi, H. Mahadevan & T.R. Ramachandran

October 2012

Presentation Plan

• Bauxite Alumina Industry India - Overview

• Present and Projected Bauxite – alumina capacity

• New Refineries – Resources and Issues

• Availability of non-metallurgical grade bauxite in

India- quality and issues

• Status of bauxite beneficiation, new research

directions and implementation plans

1 - Gujarat - 135 Mil. Tonnes

2,3- Central India - 400 Mil. Tonnes

4 - Western Ghats - 290 Mil. Tonnes

5 - Eastern Ghats - 2170 Mil.Tonnes

6 - South India - 28 Mil. Tonnes

Bauxite Resources and Alumina Refineries of India

Belgaum

Damanjodi

Mettur

Renukoot

Muri

Korba

1

4

6

5

2

3

- Bauxite Deposits*:

- Alumina Refineries

VEDANTA Lanjigarh,

ANRAK, HINDALCO Utkal

& Aditya projects located

in this Bauxite belt

NALCO

Alumina

Project

India has over 3 Billion tonnes of

bauxite resources

East coast has vast reserves of

gibbisitic bauxite

1. 2,363 Mt of explored resources

2. 957 Mt probable mineral inventory

3. 80% of India’s proven bauxite

reserves.

These deposits have little overburden

which makes cost of production very

low.

Al2O3 : 42-44% ; Av. Alumina: 38-40%

SiO2 : 2-4% ; Rx. Silica: 1.8-3%

Fe2O3 : 22-26% & TiO2: 2-3%

Gibbsitic bauxite with low level of

impurities

Bhawanipatna

LANJIGARH

KISSANMALI

KARLAPAT

Bissamcuttack SIJIMALI

KUTRUMALI

Kentiguda BAPHLIMALI

SASABAHUMALI

Tikri Doragrha

RAYAGADA

Rupkona

Laxmipur

KODINGAMALI

PANCHPATMALI KARNAPADIKONDA

Parvatipuram Koraput MALIPARVAT

POTTANGI

Bobilli CHINTAMAGODNI

ANDHRA PRADESH Vizianagaram

Srikakulam

Kottavalsa

Eastern Ghats Bauxite

Deposits

EXISTING ALUMINA REFINERIES Present & Projected Capacity & Production in

thousand tons Refinery Capacity Production Bauxite Volume Temp.

2011 2020 2011 2020 2011 2020

BALCO,

Korba - 200 - 200 - 600 High

HINDALCO,

Belgaum 360 360 350 360 1,050 1,080 Low

HINDALCO,

Muri 440 450 440 450 1,320 1,350 Double

digestion

HINDALCO,

Renukoot 730 750 730 750 2,190 2,250 High

NALCO,

Damanjodi 1,950 2,800 1,550 2,325 4,650 6,975 Atmosph

eric

VEDANTA,

Lanjigarh 1,000 6,000 787 6,000 2,360 18,000 Low

Total 4,480 10,560 3,857 10,085 11,570 30,255

NEW ALUMINA REFINERIES Capacity in thousand tons

Refinery Capacity Bauxite Volume Comments

2016 2020 2016 2020

ANRAK 1,500 3,000 4,500 9,000 Low temp; 90% construction

over, likely to be operational by

2012 end

HINDALCO,

Utkal 1,500 3,000 4,500 9,000 Low temp.; Construction in

progress (70% completed)

HINDALCO,

Aditya 1,500

2,000 4,200 6,000 Low temp; Refinery work started

NALCO

Alumina

Refinery,

Gujarat

1,000 1,000 2,700 2,700

Low temp: Feasibility stage

Total 5,500 9,000 15,900 26,700 Long way to go

M

P

R

ANRAK Alumina Project Designated Mines - Jarrella ~ 240 Mt. Alumina Refinery - 1.5 million tpa Aluminium Smelter - 250,000 tpa

Ref. : HINDALCO communications

Ref. : HINDALCO communications

Forecast Alumina & Aluminium Production in

India

This alumina capacity looks

more realistic compared to 19

Million Tons projected earlier.

Indian Resources & Issues

• Good quality bauxite

resources

• Qualified manpower &

management

• Availability of technology &

funds

• Nearness to China and other

developing market

• Increasing production of

value added bauxite-alumina

by small & medium sized

companies

• Tough local environment

• Delays in land acquisition

& clearances

• Bureaucracy

• Conflicting interests

• Tribal issues

Indian High Grade Bauxite-Issues Small scattered bauxite deposit, mostly sandwiched

between metallurgical & cement grade materials.

Gujarat white bauxite is contaminated with CaO

/CaCO3.

High grade bauxite of western & central India has

high titania and iron content, however, free from

CaO.

Large metallurgical grade bauxite deposits of

Eastern Ghats has high iron content, however, they

are free from any other contaminations and also has

low titania content.

Const. I (Gujarat) II (Katni) III (Bastar) IV (Lohard) V (Netar’t)

Al2O3 56-58 58-60 58-61 55 min 58 min

Fe2O3 3 max 3-4 2.5-3.0 4.5 max 3 max

TiO2 3 max 5-6 3-5 11 max 9 max

CaO 1.5 max - 0.8-1.0 1 max 1 max

LOI 34 min 25 min 24-30 26 min 28 min

In Gujarat State the laterite-bauxite

belt extends for about 250 kms with

width varying from 100 m. to about 6

kms.

These bauxite deposits are located at

a close proximity of 50 to 100 km to

all-weather deep water ports

Porbandar, Okha, Bedi (Rozi), Mundra,

Kandla. Mines and ports are well

connected by roads.

Bauxite Resources in Gujarat State:

1 – Kutch

Area:

2 – Jamnagar

Area:

Total: 135 mln. tonnes

1

2

P

P

P P

P P - bauxite ports

100 mln.

tonnes

Bauxite deposits of Gujarat State

High grade

white bauxites

(Al2O3 58-65%,

Fe2O3 5%)

Metallurgical grade bauxites

(Al2O3 ~ 46-48%, SiO2 ~ 3-4%,

Fe2O3 ~ 10-15%)

Due to the fact that the bauxites have

developed on a mixture of brecciated

basalts and traps , the bauxites are

represented by two varieties:

high grade white bauxites

suitable for

calcination and

metallurgical

grade red

bauxites.

Reddish brown bauxite suitable for

metallurgical industry.

Bauxite deposits of Gujarat State

Indian Calcined Bauxite Producers Existing Units Annual

Capacity (tons)

Bombay Minerals Pvt. Ltd. (Ashapura Minechem) 66,000

Nataraj Ceramics Pvt. Ltd. (Captive) 33,000

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) 45,000

Orient Abrasives Ltd. (Captive) 33,000

Carborandum Universal Ltd. (Captive) 50,000

Navnagar Minerals Pvt. Ltd. 33,000

Krishnamayee Minerals Industries Pvt. Ltd. 33,000

Other producers: Meena Agency (30,000), SCABAL (24,000),

Kishan Minerals / Madhu Refractories (18000), Gjanan

Refractories (12,000) & Sarvesh Refractories (9600) etc.

100,000

Total 393,000

Demand for calcined bauxite for the refractory and

abrasive industry in India is estimated at 400,000 tpa;

shortfall is presently met by imports, mostly from China.

Calcined Bauxite Gujarat

Refractory Grade Calcined

Bauxite Other Grades

Parameters General

Grade Low Ferric BFA Grade

Proppants

Grade

Road

Surfacing

Grade Al2O3 MIN 84% 86.00% 85-88% 80-82% 83-84% Fe2O3 MAX 4.0%max 2.8% 2.5-4% 5-7% 4.5%max S1O2 Max 5.0%max 5.0% 3-6% 4-8% 6.0%max TiO2 Max 4.5%max 4.0% 2-4% 3.5-4% 4.5%max CaO MAX 2.5%max 2.0% 0.8-1.5% 0.8-1.2% 2.0-2.5%max

LOI MAX 0.50%max 0.50% 0.5-1 0.7-2.5% 0.5-

3.1%GM/CC B + D 3.1 GM/CC 3.15 GM/CC

*Note: Particle size can be customized as per requirement.

Ref :- Ashapura Communications

Non-metallurgical Bauxite Uses

Bauxite Beneficiation Processes

for Production of High Grade

Can absorb higher cost processes

unlike alumina refinery

The main objective is to bring down

iron content in Indian bauxite.

The other important impurities are

TiO2 & SiO

2 .

In case of Gujarat, along with above

it would be necessary to bring down

CaO in bauxite.

It is found easier to remove iron

compared to multi-elements.

Bauxite Beneficiation Processes for

Production of High Grade (contd.)

Beneficiation processes, which can be

successfully applied depending on

chemico-mineralogical characteristics are:

High Intensity wet magnetic separation

Reduction roasting followed by magnetic

separation

Chemical Leaching

Transform bauxite impurities into high

temperature phases

Convert iron-titania into Ilmenite phase

and separate this by simple magnetic

method

High Intensity Wet Magnetic

Separation - Eastern Ghats Bxt

SiO2

%

Al2O3

%

Fe2O3

%

TiO2%

HEAD 2.8 42.6 29.9 2.5

NON-MAG 2.6 56.5 11.2 0.8

Crushing, grinding, screening,

slurrying, removing superfines

followed by high gradient wet

magnetic separation

Bauxite reduction roasting

followed by magnetic separation

(China)

RESULTS OF EASTERN GHATS

BAUXITE LEACHING TESTS

BAUXITE

Al2O3- 44.3%

Fe2O3- 26.7%

SiO2- 1.90%

TiO2- 2.70%

BENEFICIATED BAUXITE-I

Al2O3- 60.84%

Fe2O3- 2.61%

SiO2- 1.40%

TiO2- 1.00%

Recovery - 62%

BENEFICIATED BAUXITE II

Al2O3- 59.29%

Fe2O3- 5.21%

SiO2- 1.72%

TiO2- 1.65%

Recovery - 76%

New Research Directions

Transform Impurities to high temperature phases

Fe2O3, TiO2 and CaO in Bauxite develop low melting

phases during calcination, degrading refractory

property.

CSIR-CGCRI (Research Institute) has developed value

added aggregates from Indian bauxite by transforming

impurities to high temperature phases.

High alumina refractories developed from these

aggregates exhibit excellent hot properties.

Details of this process will be presented in Bauxite,

Alumina & Aluminium symposium to be held in India

during December 3-5, 2012 (IBAAS-2012).

Further R&D work is in progress to transform Fe2O3

&TiO2 into Ilmenite phase and remove this by simple

magnetic separator.

Special Alumina Production in India

Belgaum Alumina Refinery of HINDALCO in India is

a leader-Produces about 150,000 tons of special alumina

products per annum

NALCO Damanjodi Refinery has pilot plant of 600 MTPA &

main plant capacity is 26,400 MTPA

Several small to medium sized refractories, castables and

alumina cement producers in India. Important players are

Calderys India Refractories Ltd., TRL Krosaki Refractories, S

P Refractories, Shanark Refractories, Sarvesh Refractories,

Flaminco Refractories, Grindwell Norton and Castwell etc.

Many types of Zeolites are also manufactured in India from

bauxite & fly ash.

Alumina Ceramics

Extensive R&D work is in progress in India on new

applications of alumina ceramics in improving cooling

efficiency, super-hydrophobic insulation, medical

prosthesis etc.

Leading R&D organizations working in this field are

CGCRI, Ceramic Technological Institute, Bharat Heavy

Electrical Limited, IFGL Bio ceramics, Carborundum Universal, TRL Krosaki Refractories etc.

India has also started production of proppants (sintered

bauxite) and presently a commercial pilot plant in Pune

is producing bauxite based proppants.

In the International Bauxite, alumina and aluminium

symposium of India, two special sessions are being

organised on latest developments of alumina

ceramics.

CONCLUSIONS

Eastern Ghats in the states of Orissa & Andhra Pradesh

are most prolific bauxite bearing region in India and 80%

country’s resources are confined here.

The present installed alumina capacity in the country is in

the order of 5.28 Million Tons per annum, however, only

3.86 MT is produced during 2011.

The projected alumina capacity in 2020 is predicted to be

about 19 MT, which looks very optimistic, keeping in view

the problems being faced by new refineries in mining

bauxite at present

India produces about 400,000 tons of calcined bauxite per

annum mainly for refractory & abrasive industries.

Intensive R&D work is going on to bring down iron and

titania contents in Indian bauxite.

CONCLUSIONS (Contd.)

Transforming iron and titania into high temperature

phases is new direction of R&D work for developing

calcined bauxite suitable for refractory industry.

HINDALCO Belgaum refinery is a leader in the production

of special alumina products followed by several small to

medium sized enterpreneurs.

Many R&D centres and companies are involved in

developing alumina based ceramics in India.

Extensive interaction with Special Alumina & Bauxite

producers is being organised at IBAAS-2012 at Nagpur,

India during 3rd – 5th , December, 2012. Visit website

http://www.ibaas.info/

Contact Details:

Dr. Ashok Nandi, Director

Mineral Information & Development Centre

E-mails: mineralinfoindia@gmail.com

aknandi@sify.com

ashok.nandi@ibaas.info

Cell No. +91 9823015772