By Neha Arora
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s steel-to-power conglomerate JSW Group plans to set up a 500,000 metric ton capacity copper smelter in the eastern state of Odisha by 2028/29 with feedstock of copper concentrate from Peru and Chile, a source directly aware of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
In January, JSW said it was foraying into the copper business with a 26-billion-rupee ($301.22 million) investment to operate two copper mines from Hindustan Copper for a period of 20 years, with the option to extend it for another decade.
The group now plans to set up its own smelter facility in Odisha with an investment of around 120 billion rupees and scale up the capacity to 1 million metric tons by 2033/34, the source said, declining to be identified as details about the proposed smelter are not public.
A JSW spokesperson redirected queries from Reuters to the January statement about the copper foray.
With this expansion, JSW will compete with Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s group that has set up a $1.2 billion copper smelter, the world’s biggest single-location plant of its type in the western state of Gujarat.
JSW plans to feed its planned electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities with the copper produced at the smelter, the source added. Some of the concentrate supply will come from Hindustan Copper, the source said.
The chief executive of JSW’s copper business, Pankaj Kumar, will be travelling to Chile early next month to meet with suppliers for potential copper concentrate deals, the source said.
India, which is dependent on copper imports to meet shortfalls, had listed copper among the identified 30 critical minerals in 2023 as part of the country’s efforts towards a green energy transition.
India’s copper imports have surged since the 2018 closure of Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper smelter, which produced about 400,000 metric tons of the metal.
Currently only Hindalco Industries, part of India’s Aditya Birla group, and state-run miner Hindustan Copper Ltd produce copper in the country.
India’s refined copper production is estimated at around 555,000 metric tons per year against domestic consumption of more than 750,000 metric tons. India imports around 500,000 metric tons of copper a year to meet the shortfall.
New Delhi’s drive towards clean energy and electric vehicles, and other similar shifts, are expected to double the country’s copper demand by 2030, according to industry estimates.
($1 = 86.3150 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Neha Arora; editing by David Evans)
