Adani Group, Reliance Industries, Hindalco Industries, Vedanta Aluminium, Naveen Jindal-backed Powercem, and Coal India are among the companies interested in Odisha’s Karlapat-Pollingpadar bauxite block. They are seeking long-term supplies of this key raw material as they prepare for major aluminium capacity expansions.
Located in Kalahandi district, the Karlapat-Pollingpadar deposit is one of the largest virgin bauxite resources currently available for auction in India. It is among 11 virgin mineral blocks offered by the Odisha government in the current auction round. According to the Directorate of Geology, Government of Odisha, the block contains an estimated 207 million tonnes of bauxite resources, comprising 153 million tonnes of proved reserves and 54 million tonnes of possible reserves.
Spread across a plateau of around 9.6 square kilometres, the deposit has an average ore thickness of nearly 12 metres. Geological data indicate an average alumina content of about 45.2 per cent with low reactive silica, making the ore suitable for alumina production through the Bayer process.
The Odisha government invited bids for the mining block in May this year after an earlier auction process, initiated in July 2021, was delayed because of environmental and legal challenges before the High Court. Karlapat remains a greenfield mining project, with no previous commercial mining activity.