After KCM revival, Vedanta seeks greener pastures in India, abroad

UK-based Vedanta Resources is looking to start copper production at its Konkola copper mines (KCM) in Zambia and is eyeing to serve global and Indian markets, according to company executives.

Promoted by billionaire Anil Agarwal, the miner in November 2023 regained control of the copper mines and smelter, which the Zambian administration had seized in 2019, but needed to pay creditors of the mines to revive operations.

The conglomerate was locked in a legal battle over the ownership of the KCM mines prior to a September 2023 Zambia government decision to reinstate the group as owners of the mines.

In July, Vedanta said it had made the due payments and regained ownership of these mines.

The KCM is helping the conglomerate to tap into India’s growing copper demand.

In an investor call after its June results, company executives with Vedanta Ltd informed analysts they expected a 100-kilotonne (kt) copper production from KCM by the end of FY25.

In an email response to Business Standard, a Vedanta Resources spokesperson said, the production from these mines would be targeted for sale in both global and Indian markets.

“Most definitely, as it has been done in the past. KCM will also look to serve the Indian (market).

"Copper is clearly a metal of the future, and its supply chain is one that the Government of India is also extremely keen to secure, given the huge demand for copper in the country, its current limited domestic production, and very high import levels,” said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson did not state what share of volumes the group plans to sell to India.

At a starting production of 100 kt, it was half of India’s overall demand for refined copper in the June quarter at 201 kt.

Meanwhile, a unit of Sterlite Copper — a subsidiary of Sterlite Industries, a company owned by Mumbai-based Vedanta Ltd — in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin remains shut over a Supreme Court order. 

The Vedanta spokesperson refused to comment on whether the sale of copper from the KCM mines will help the group regain the lost copper due to the shutting down of the Tamil Nadu unit.

Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper unit had a 400 kilotonnes per annum (KTPA) capacity.

In the email response to Business Standard, the Vedanta Resources spokesperson said, “Vedanta is deeply committed to Zambia and the Zambian people and to the Zambian government’s vision in the next ten years. KCM, we believe, is well placed to produce 300 KT of copper during this period.”

Global copper demand is estimated to grow from 28.3 million tonnes (mt) in 2020 to 40.9 mt in 2040, according to International Copper Association data.

Vedanta expects India’s demand for these minerals to grow in double digits and a steady and affordable supply of raw materials is necessary to become a global manufacturing hub, the company said.