State-run Hindustan Copper
plans to sell copper concentrate produced by mines it
is acquiring from Chile’s Codelco to Hindalco and
Adani, aiming to meet India’s growing appetite for the red
metal, two sources familiar with the matter said.
It is also in talks to form a joint venture with state-run
Codelco to mine and sell copper, three sources said, declining
to be identified as the deliberations were confidential.
Hindustan Copper, Coal India and NTPC Mining are
in discussions to secure four copper mining blocks from Codelco,
India’s mines secretary said in April.
Last year, Hindustan Copper signed a preliminary agreement
with Codelco about looking at mutually beneficial opportunities
in exploration and mining. In May this year, it signed a
non-disclosure agreement with Codelco and appointed a deal
advisor.
It did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. It has
previously denied that it is in talks about a joint venture.
Codelco, NTPC Mining and Coal India also did not immediately
respond to a Reuters request for comment.
India, the world’s second-biggest refined copper importer, may have to import 91% to 97% of its copper concentrates by 2047, the government has said.
Hindalco, an Aditya Birla Group-owned firm, is one of
India’s biggest aluminium and copper producers. The Adani
conglomerate runs Kutch Copper, a $1.2 billion smelter in the
western state of Gujarat that it says is the world’s biggest
single-location plant of its type.
According to two of the sources, due diligence is ongoing
and Hindustan Copper is open to having partners for the JV such
as Coal India and NTPC Mining.
Early this year, a technical team from Hindustan Copper and
executives from NTPC Mining and Coal India visited Chile, the
sources said, adding that it would still take a decade before
mining could begin and concentrate is produced.
India plans to include a chapter on copper in free trade
pact talks with Chile to secure a fixed quantity of copper
concentrate, the government said last year.
India produces an estimated 573,000 metric tons of refined
copper annually but demand is much greater at around 1.8 million
tons.