ASI in India – January 2026
In January 2026, Dr Fiona Solomon and Mark Annandale from the ASI Secretariat were in India for bauxite mine visits, an audit witness assessment and an aluminium foil conference.
10 February 2026
Along with Father Nicholas Barla from the Indigenous Peoples Advisory Forum (IPAF), Mark visited three bauxite mines in Jharkand and Chhattisgarh to discuss mine site rehabilitation, mine closure initiatives and community development activities. Fiona and an ASI auditor joined them at a fourth bauxite mine in Odisha undergoing a certification audit, where Nicholas was a Registered Specialist in the audit team, and she and Mark observed the audit process.
Fiona and Mark on-site at a bauxite mine in Odisha
The following week, Fiona presented on ASI’s 10 years of action on sustainability in the aluminium value chain to the Global Aluminium Foil Roller Conference (GLAFCO) held in New Delhi.
Global Aluminium Foil Roller Conference (GLAFCO)
Highlights included seeing work on innovative approaches to mine site rehabilitation and community engagement to help inform mine closure objectives, meeting community and employee representatives involved in women empowerment activities. Another stand out moment was the creative safety training for truck drivers involving acted mini-dramas with roles played by the drivers, that powerfully brought home critical safety messages to a very engaged audience. There was a palpable energy and commitment towards sustainability ambition throughout our time in India, coupled with a growing regulatory drive around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
Fiona and ASI Registered Specialist Mr. Gangaa C Sharma at GLAFCO
Sincere thanks to Hindalco for hosting ASI at various mine sites and wide-ranging discussions, and to the Global Aluminium Foil Roller Initiative (GLAFRI) for their invitation and support to present at the conference.
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