Vedanta’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery gets ISO 50001:2011 certification

By Supriya Pathak / Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com Mumbai/Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), the Indian arm of the London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC, has been awarded the ISO 50001:2011 certification, an internationally recognised Environmental Management Standard (EMS) that specifies a set of energy and environmental management requirements for environment management systems. VAL received the ISO 50001:2011 from British Standards Institution, for efficiently managing the existing natural resources and mitigating the impact of climate change at its Lanjigarh refinery unit in Orissa’s Kalahandi district. With this, VAL became the first mining and metal industry in India to earn the accreditation. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mukesh Kumar, president and chief operating officer of VAL, Lanjigarh, said, “With the obtaining of the ISO 50001:2011, VAL aims to minimise energy consumption to a greater level. The accreditation for ISO 50001 also reflects the company’s determined attempt in energy-saving green practices. “VAL is committed for overall area development & Environment protection. The Lanjigarh Plant is the only alumina refinery in the country having Zero discharge system and aiming to become the first alumina refinery in the world by developing Zero Waste road Map. It has already started recovery of valuable Vanadium from waste which is helping in reducing import of vanadium sludge,” he added. After attaining of the ISO 50001 certification, VAL, Lanjigarh has adhered to a framework of stringent energy conservation and efficient natural resource usage policy which requires it to align its operations to four aspects affecting energy management such as; (a) Mitigation of Climate change, (b) World class Energy Performance, (c) Support BEE, Ministry of Power, Govt. of India and (d) Energy efficient procurement. Now its system has been certified as per ISO 50001:2011. Apart from the recent certification, VAL Lanjigarh’s environmental concerns are reflective from the constitution of a core EMS team which is primarily responsible for drafting the System Based Energy Management. In fact, the company has also trained 25 of its employees on EnMS – 16001 and 14 other employees as lead auditors through a reputed external agency.