The Orissa government has assured Vedanta Aluminium of leasing laterite minerals, which will help the company run its 1-million-tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Orissa’s Kalahandi district. The state government has agreed to lease out laterite deposits in Rayagada and Koraput districts to VAL in a month or two. In reply, Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal has written a letter to chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, stating, “We are very encouraged to be assured that the government would take all steps so that mining lease could be granted in two months for small and laterite mines, which can serve as a breather for our alumina refinery on a short-term basis.” Vednata has some experience of extraction of alumina from laterite soil in Andhra Pradesh. Vedanta Aluminium has applied for lease of 113 hectares of laterite-rich land in villages of Panabara, Sagabari and Arotokoni under Kashipur block of the Rayagada district. The Koraput deputy director of mines (DDM) has, meanwhile, forwarded the application to the district administration. The administration now has send its recommendation to the directorate of mines, sources said. According to a state steel and mines department senior officer, “As there is no policy for leasing out laterite-rich land to private companies, a policy needs to be formulated for granting lease to any companies." Moreover, the laterite deposits, which are in a small quantity, would not be sufficient for running a 1-million-tonne plant. So Vedanta has to look for bauxite mines for full-fledged operations of the plant. Vedanta is now exploring the possibility of sourcing bauxite from the Sijimali and Kuturmali bauxite mines, after firming up a joint venture with L&T.