VEDANTA Resources is looking for business partners to boost output at the Zambian copper assets it’s regaining control of after years of legal battles, said Bloomberg News citing a notice in the state-owned Times of Zambia.
The notice – a call for expressions of interest – seeks partners to carry out exploration, development and production as part of a $1bn investment plan at the Konkola Copper Mines assets, said Bloomberg News.
Vedanta wants partners to help it increase reserves and resources to 21 million tons of copper equivalent from 16Mt, increase cobalt output to 6,000 tons a year, and operate and maintain concentrator plants, a smelter, a refinery and a tailings-leach plant.
The deadline is July 31.
The company lost control of Konkola, or KCM, in 2019 after the government placed the operations under provisional liquidation, accusing Vedanta of lying about expansion plans and not paying enough taxes.
That sparked a years-long legal battle until Zambia agreed to the hand assets back. Agarwal sees KCM as a key source of copper for India, which has limited supplies of its own, Bloomberg News said.
Commenting on the reinvestment at KCM in February, Vedanta Base Metals CEO Chris Griffith said: “We do not underestimate that it not just going to be a walk in the park to turn around an asset that has been run by the government or a provisional liquidator for the past five years”.
Before joining Vedanta in September last year Griffith was CEO of Gold Fields but resigned in December 2022 following the group’s failure to take over North American gold producer Yamana.
