Adani's $1.1 billion copper project to start operations from Mar 2024

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led group’s copper-producing factory at Mundra in Gujarat will start operations from March next year, helping cut India’s dependence on imports and aiding energy transition, sources said.

Copper is known as the “metal of electrification” as deeper electrification requires wires, which are primarily made from copper. Technologies critical to the energy transition like electric vehicles (EVs), charging infrastructure, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind and batteries, all 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 in two phases.

For Phase-1, capacity of 0.5 million tonnes per annum, KCL has achieved financial closure through a syndicated club loan, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The first phase is expected to become operational by the end of the current fiscal, they said. Adani, at the company’s AGM a few days back, stated, “Of the several projects underway, two of the key ones include the Navi Mumbai Airport and the Copper Smelter, and both are on schedule”.

The Rs 8,783 crore-greenfield project completed a full debt tie-up with a consortium of banks led by SBI earlier this year, they said, adding the entire debt requirement of Rs 6,071 crore for Phase-1 has been provided by the consortium of banks.