New Delhi (05.02.2024): Gautam Adani-led group is building world's largest single-location copper manufacturing plant at Mundra in Gujarat, which will help cut India's dependence on imports and aid energy transition. The $1.2-billion facility will start operations of the first phase by March-end and full-scale 1million tonnes capacity by March 2029.
India joins China and other nations that are rapidly expanding production of copper, a metal crucial for transition away from fossil fuels. Technologies critical to the energy transition like electric vehicles (EVs), charging infrastructure, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind and batteries require copper.
Kutch Copper Ltd (KCL), a subsidiary of the group's flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), is setting up a greenfield copper refinery project for the production of refined copper with 1 million tonnes per annum capacity in two phases. For Phase-1, capacity of 0.5 million tonnes per annum, KCL achieved financial closure through a syndicated club loan in June 2022.
"Adani wants to become a global leader in the copper business, leveraging the Adani Group's strong position in resource trading, logistics, renewable power, and infrastructure," sources said, adding, "Their aim is to be the world's largest copper smelting complex by 2030."
India's per capita copper consumption is estimated around 0.6 kg compared to the global average of 3.2 kg. "India's drive towards clean energy systems, increasing penetration of electric vehicles and a host of associated applications are expected to double the domestic copper demand by 2030," the source said.
“The Adani Group is investing heavily in energy transition, in which copper will play a vital role. It is expanding into adjacent areas of its current capabilities, which makes the copper business a strategic fit," he said. Copper is the third most used industrial metal after steel and aluminium, and its demand is rising on the back of fast-growing renewable energy, telecom and electric vehicle industries.
The country is estimated to have consumed 7,50,000 tonnes of copper in FY23 (612 KT in FY22). The number is expected to rise to 1.7 million tonnes by 2027. Global demand for copper from solar photovoltaic (PV) installations alone is estimated to double to 2.25 million tonnes in the current decade.
Sources said that Adani Group's foray into copper manufacturing is a natural extension of its trading, mining, logistics, infrastructure, and manufacturing businesses. "We have a strong international presence to import copper concentrate as India does not produce enough."
West coast, they said, provides Adani with an additional competitive advantage to cater seamlessly to domestic as well as international markets. Kutch Copper will produce copper cathodes and rods as well as valuable byproducts such as gold, silver, selenium and platinum.
Additionally, the integrated complex will produce sulphuric acid, which is a key raw material for manufacturing phosphatic fertilizers, detergents, pharmaceuticals, speciality chemicals, paper and sugar bleaching, and water treatment. India imports roughly two million tonnes of sulphuric acid.
The plant will produce 500,000 tonnes of refined copper per annum in Phase I with byproducts -- nearly 25 tonnes of gold, 250 tonnes of silver, 1.5 million tonnes of sulphuric acid, and 250,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid. The Phase II expansion will increase the refined copper capacity up to 1 million tonnes per annum, sources said.
"The copper complex construction (Phase I) is in the advanced stages, and the plant is expected to be operational in 2024," the second source said.
"Kutch Copper will be one of the most efficient copper smelters in India, with lower greenhouse gas emissions. Adani is striving to increase the share of renewables in the overall energy mix in our quest to be a proponent of 'green copper'," a source said.
