Bhubaneswar: The National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is set to become the first company in India to manufacture the rare metal gallium by the end of 2027.
“A prototype facility is being established at the Damanjodi refinery (in Odisha’s Koraput district). It is expected to be ready within eight to nine months, followed by a year of testing before going for commercial production,” said Nalco’s chairman-cum-managing director Brijendra Pratap Singh at a media connect programme here on Tuesday.
The navratna company will extract gallium from the waste generated from its alumina refinery, and in the process making it the only manufacturer of gallium in the country. China produces almost all the gallium used in the world.
Nalco’s foray into gallium production with its 10 tonne per year plant would help it supply the metal to the semiconductor industry. The compound Gallium arsenide is used in LEDs for such devices as calculators and smartphones as it can convert electricity directly to light. The company has tied up with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Heavy Water Board (HWB) for research and development work on gallium extraction and non-nuclear applications of heavy water, Nalco sources said.
Nalco’s Expansion Plan
With a target to becoming a maharatna company and meet India’s aluminium consumption need projected at 7.5-8 MTPA in the next 5 years, Nalco has decided to invest around Rs 30,000 crore to increase the capacity of its smelter plant (in Angul district) by 5 lakh tonne per annum, alumina production by 10 lakh tonne per annum and captive power plant by 1080 mega watt by 2030 FY, informed Singh. The central PSU further aims to start operations at the Pottangi bauxite mine, which holds reserves of 111 million tonnes, by June 2026. Nalco plans to invest ₹1,961 crore to operationalise the mine, informed Executive Director (H&A) Asutosh Rath. The aluminium major presently operates the Panchpatmali bauxite mines with a capacity of 7.5 million tonnes per annum to feed its 2.1 MTPA alumina refinery at Damanjodi and its 0.46 MTPA aluminium smelter with a 1,200 MW captive power plant at Angul.
“While expansion of the smelter facility would require an investment of Rs 17,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore, the power plant expansion would need Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 11,000 crore,” Singh revealed. Expansion of the refinery would cost another Rs 5000 crore.
The CMD further said Nalco would finalise its technology supplier through tender within the next 3-4 months followed by preparation of the detailed project report in another six months.
Disclosing the company’s progress, , through its joint venture with Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), on the critical minerals front, Singh said they are exploring five mines in Argentina for possible commercial mining by 2027 end. KABIL is also planning investments in lithium mines in Australia and evaluating opportunities in Chile, he added.
Replying to a query on the USA recently slapping 50 per cent tariff on certain India products, Singh said it won’t impact Nalco, as the company was not exporting aluminium to US. “The recent agreement with the UK has made it a free trade zone with zero tariff. We are exploring the UK as it has no domestic smelters, but is a growing market for aluminium in the electric vehicle and solar panel sectors,” he noted.
Nalco officials informed that the company’s net profit jumped by 77 per cent to ₹1,064 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year as against ₹601 crore recorded in Q1 of the previous fiscal. In the first quarter of the 2025-26 FY, Nalco recorded the highest-ever domestic sale of alumina and aluminium, supported by a robust growth in both domestic and export markets, they said.