Odisha amends long-term linkage policy; OMC to provide bauxite to Vedanta

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Cabinet on Wednesday amended long-term raw material linkage policy that will facilitate Vedanta to source bauxite from Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) at auction rates.

“The decision of the Cabinet will enable to Vedanta Limited which has set up an alumina refinery and aluminium smelter in the state under MoUs with the state government, to purchase bauxite from OMC on a long-term basis on market price discovered through auction in a transparent manner,” said a cabinet note.

The State Government had, in September 2014 notified a policy for long-term linkage of iron and chrome ore and other minerals to the eligible State based end-user industries through OMC.

The Cabinet, in its meeting held today, has approved the amendment of the long-term linkage policy to specify detailed guidelines for Bauxite linkage.

As per the amendment, 70% of the saleable stock of the Bauxite shall be made available for long-term linkage and the balance 30% stock shall be sold through national e-auction.

The weighted average price derived from the national e-auction shall be the long-term linkage price. The floor price for the national e-auction will be kept at cost of production plus profit margin of 50%, it added.

As a general principle, in the national e-auction, the OMC will directly deal with the end-user industries. Participation by traders shall be considered only if there is persistent lack of adequate response from the end-user industries.

The Cabinet has noted that though Odisha has Bauxite reserves of 1968. 862 million tonnes, the annual production was only about 9.2 million tonnes.