December 03, 2008

Vedanta to invest USD 15 billion in Indian mining sector

ET reported that London based Vedanta Resources is planning to invest USD 15 billion in the mining sector in India and Africa by 2010.

Mr Anil Agrawal executive chairman of Vedanta Resources said that we are planning to become the largest producer of metals in the world. He added that "We are targeting at achieving the 1 million tonne per annum production capacity in copper and zinc while in aluminum, where we have already touched the magical 1 million figure, we are trying to scale it up to 3 million tonnes per annum."

Mr Agrawal said that it is also focusing on ramping up the silver production to 500 tonnes per annum to become the largest producer of silver in Asia. He added that "We are investing INR 500 crore for enhancing the silver production from 200 tonnes per annum to 500 tonnes per annum at our Udaipur based facility in Hindustan Zinc. We would not only restrict ourselves to upstream activities but also explore markets for local consumption."

Mr Agrawal said that "We want to acquire gold mines like Bharat Gold mine or Hatti Gold mine to expand our canvas. In fact, we are interested in public sector companies which are on block, even if it’s Nalco, Hindustan Copper Limited or IFCI. We have proved that we can transform sick PSUs into profit making companies."