Chris Griffith
Rainmakers & Potstirrers

Chris Griffith

CEO: Vedanta Base Metals

www.vedantaresources.com

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‘It’s just impossible to ignore the demand for copper’

AS the kingpin tasked with establishing Vedanta Base Metals as an independent, listable entity, Chris Griffith has his work cut out. First stop is to restore Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia from the current 70,000t/year back to 300,000t/year by 2031 at an estimated cost of $1.3bn. Vedanta owns 80% of KCM (the balance is owned by the state-owned ZCCM-IH) so the Indian group will need a partner.

 Enter United Arab Emirates company IRH, which first sought to buy control of KCM in April last year before starting talks with Griffith for a lower stake of up to 30%. Those discussions are yet to pan out but Griffith said other investors were kicking the tyres. In a later development, Vedanta has agreed with Saudi Arabia to invest up to $2bn in the country’s copper refining industry. The plan is for a 400,000t/year smelting and refining complex as well as a 300,000t/year copper rods facility that would supply the electric cabling industry. “This project ties in very nicely, both with our own ambitions as Vedanta to grow our footprints in India and the Middle East, [and] with the industrial growth strategy in Saudi Arabia,” Griffith told Reuters in November.

 This is all a far cry from Vedanta’s troubled past in copper. The Zambian government seized KCM in 2019, which resulted in the assets deteriorating badly. “We do not underestimate that it is 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,” Griffith reflected last year.

LIFE OF CHRIS

He was an Anglo American lifer and ‘blue-eyed’ boy, rising through the ranks to become CEO of Kumba and then Anglo American Platinum before leaving to become CEO of Gold Fields in 2021. He abruptly resigned from Gold Fields after a bust-up with big institutional shareholders resulting from the gold miner’s unsuccessful bid to take over Yamana Gold. The move stunned analysts because there was no fundamental reason for Griffith to quit after being outbid for Yamana by competitor Agnico Eagle.

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