Vedanta mulls Zambian copper biz listing in US among fundraising options

Mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources is looking at multiple options, including listing its Zambian copper business Konkola Copper Mines in the US market, to raise capital for the development of mining assets, a company official said. The company's Konkola Copper Mine has reserves and resources of 16 million tonnes of contained copper.

"Zambian asset, Konkola copper mine has ... one of the highest grades of copper ... And in that case, there are multiple options in terms of raising capital. And for value creation, listing in fullness of time is one of the options," Vedanta's chief financial officer Ajay Goel told PTI.

Looking at the current prices of copper, he said, this mine will truly be a gold mine.

But having said that, right now, nothing has been finalised, he said, adding that the listing is one of the options in the near future.

When asked how much the company is planning to raise from the listing and how will the funds be utilised, he said, "We haven't reached that stage in terms of the valuation for the KCM and what amount will be raised. Having said that, right now our entire focus remains on making the KCM, our Zambian asset, fully operational, reach its full capacity of 300 KTPA and obviously in fullness of time, listing is one of the options."

Copper is a critical mineral for the energy transition technologies and demand is soaring globally for use in electric vehicles and an increasingly digitised modern world striving for net zero.

With high-grade copper deposits in excess of 2.4 per cent, KCM is one of the largest deposits of high-grade copper in the world. With a total of 4,12,000 tonnes of contained cobalt reserves and resources, KCM also has the potential to sit amongst the top five cobalt producers globally.

Vedanta plans to ramp up KCM copper production to 300,000 tonnes per annum from the current 200,000 tonnes per annum and increase cobalt production from 1,000 tonnes per annum to 6,000 tonnes per annum by improving production capabilities at KCM.

Vedanta Resources Limited is the holding company for Vedanta Limited and Konkola Copper Mines. These businesses in turn have multiple subsidiaries with a portfolio comprising operations in oil and gas, zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, steel, nickel, aluminium, power and glass substrate.