Indian copper and aluminium firm Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd said on Sunday it had begun work on a Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) bauxite mining and alumina refinery project in Orissa.

The metals firm said in a statement, made available to Reuters, the new refinery will have a capacity to produce 1.0 million tonnes of alumina a year which could later be expanded to 1.4 million tonnes.

The Orissa government had committed 150 million tonnes of bauxite to the project, half of whose output will be exported. Sterlite will consume the remaining captively.

The firm will also set up a 100 MW power plant to meet the energy requirements of the project, for which it has picked Australian firm Worley to provide engineering services.

The Sterlite group has a capacity to produce 180,000 tonnes of copper, 208,000 tonnes of zinc and 131,000 tonnes of alumina a year while another group firm, Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd makes optical fibre cable.