Vedanta plans to invest $1.5 billion for capacity expansion

Vedanta’s board has approved a $1.5 billion investment to expand its aluminium capacity since the plans to expand its smelters and increase the share of value-added products in its aluminium portfolio, it has been officially announced.

It also plans to expand its zinc alloys production through its subsidiary Hindustan Zinc. Earlier, the company had commissioned a 30 kilo tonnes per annum capacity plant in Rajasthan.

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The company plans to list its separate entities to trim down its massive $11 billion debt. The listing will help Vedanta to not only reduce its debt but also raise the necessary funds to expand its mining and production operations.

The company has informed that it plans to list its Zambia-based mining subsidiary, Konkola Copper Mines, on the US stock market and raise $1 billion through the listing. “The company is building its critical minerals footprint, exploring copper, nickel, cobalt, chromium, vanadium, tungsten and Platinum Grade Elements (PGEs) across states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh, supported by India’s policy push for mineral security,” according to a company statement.

The Vedanta Group won four blocks in the fourth round of critical mineral blocks auction recently. While Vedanta bagged vanadium and graphite mine in Arunachal Pradesh, cobalt, manganese and iron (poly-metal) mine in Karnataka, a subsidiary of Vedanta called Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) won a tungsten and associated minerals block in Andhra Pradesh as well as a tungsten mine in Tamil Nadu.

Vedanta also informed that it is expanding its value-added products for zinc and aluminium products. The company has already forayed into zinc alloys with a 30,000 tonnes per annum plant, according to its statement.