JSW Group to set up 5 lakh tonne copper smelter in Odisha: report

Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is planning to set up a 500,000 tonne per annum copper smelter in Odisha, with estimated investment of around Rs12,000 crore ($1.396 billion) and tied-up copper cencentrate feedstock supplies from leased mines in South America.

The smelter project is expected to be completed by 2028-29 and initial production will start with copper concentrate shipped from mines in Peru and Chile, reports citing sources close to the development said.

JSW had, earlier this year, announced plans to invest Rs2,600 crore ($301.22 million) to operate two copper mines on lease from Hindustan Copper for a period of 20 years to enter copper production. The lease agreement has an option to extend it for a further 10 years.

JSW Group has plans to scale up smelter capacity to 1 million tonnes by 2033-34, reports said, quoting unidentified sources. 

Copper produced at the smelter will be used at JSW’s planned electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities, the reports added. 

Pankaj Kumar, CEO of JSW’s copper business, will be travelling to Chile early next month to meet with potential suppliers of copper concentrate, the report said, adding that some of the concentrate will be sourced from Hindustan Copper as well.

This is the second copper smelter being set up in India after the world’s largest single-location copper smelter set up by the Gautam Adani group in Gujarat, at an investment of $1.2 billion.

It may be noted that a group of environmentalits and NGOs have come together to force the closure of Vedanta Group’s 4 lakh tonne capacity Sterlite Copper smelter of in Tamil Nadu in 2018.

Currently, the Aditya Birla Group’s Hindalco Industries and state-run Hindustan Copper Ltd produce around 555,000 tonnes of copper against the country’s annual demand of 750,000 tonnes. The country’s copper imports have surged since 2018 and now imports around 500,000 tonnes of refined copper annually.

With increase in import dependency and rising shortfall in domestic production, the government has listed copper among 30 critical minerals that are essential for the country’s efforts to transition to a green economy.