The company of Gautam Adani has signed contracts to buy 1.6 million tons of copper concentrate per year for its smelter in Mundra. This plant is expected to be the largest single-location copper smelter in the world. In order to satisfy India’s anticipated doubling of its copper consumption, the $1.2 billion factory, with an initial capacity of 500,000 tons, is scheduled to begin operations next month and increase to 1 million tons by March 2029.
The largest single-location copper smelter in the world has contracts with the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s business to purchase 1.6 million tons of copper concentrate annually.
According to Adani Natural Resources CEO Vinay Prakash, the $1.2 billion facility in Mundra, Gujarat, is scheduled to open for business next month with 500,000 tons of capacity. In an interview, he stated that this would be increased to one million tons by March 2029 in order to meet the anticipated doubling of Indian copper demand by the end of the decade.
According to Bloomberg, The main business of the port-to-power conglomerate, Adani Enterprises Ltd., is looking for resource stability in essential minerals and has started investing again in capital projects now that its shares have steadied following an onslaught by short sellers in January 2023. Due to a shortage of ore, processors are charging miners lower fees, which coincides with the smelter’s startup and the collapse of the world copper market.
According to Prakash, smelters and refiners around the world might be compelled to reduce output due to a combination of high operational expenses and the low royalties. “We will be able to stay competitive in the market because our plant will be a low-cost producer with higher metal recovery.”
Prakash stated that the concentrate transactions are a combination of short- and long-term agreements without naming the suppliers. As new mining operations, like those in Africa and Peru, come online, the supply of concentrate is anticipated to rise in the medium- to long-term, he said.
According to insiders, the goal of this program is to lessen India’s dependency on imports and speed up the nation’s switch to sustainable energy. It is projected that the facility, which would require an investment of $1.2 billion, will begin operations by the end of March. According to two sources with knowledge of the development, the full 1 million tons capacity is expected to be operational by March 2029, which is the fiscal year 2029.
