India's Vedanta Aluminium Metal Limited (VAML) recently announced that it is accelerating development of its Sijimali bauxite mine in Odisha after securing consent to operate in September 2026. The company plans to produce 1 million mt of bauxite in FY2027 (April 2026–March 2027), scaling up to 5–6 million mt in FY2028 (April 2027–March 2028). The development comes as a pricing dispute continues with state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), which has demanded approximately INR 56 billion (INR 5,600 crore) in outstanding payments following a court ruling over historical bauxite supply arrangements.
Vedanta currently requires approximately 12 million mt/year of bauxite to support its aluminum operations and plans to increase procurement from OMC from 2.4 million mt/year to as much as 4.8 million mt/year as the state-owned miner expands production.
