Vedanta to invest 200 bln rupees over 3 yrs to expand aluminium capacity

BHUBANESWAR, India Dec 1 (Reuters) - Mining conglomerate Vedanta plans to invest 150 to 200 billion rupees ($2.93 billion) over three years to expand its alumina and aluminium producing capacity, said Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc.

The company plans to expand the capacity of its Lanjigarh alumina refinery to 5 million tonnes from the current 2 million tonnes and double the capacity of its Jharsuguda aluminium smelter to 2 million tonnes.

Both the plants are located in the eastern state of Odisha.

Vedanta has been trying to expand the capacity of its refinery for almost 8 years now but a paucity of availability of bauxite, the raw material which is refined to make alumina, has proved a hurdle.

($1 = 68.3605 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy)