Nearly five months after its unit in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, was shut over alleged environmental violations, Vedanta Ltd. will start a copper rod mill in Silvassa by the year end.
October 24 2018
The demand for copper in India—which is 650,000 tonnes per annum—would double in the next few years. A lot of this demand is from the wire and cable industry because lot of construction activity is going on. Vedanta’s new mill will convert copper cathodes into rods for manufacturing various products—and will have a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per annum. Vedanta already operates two copper rod mills in Silvassa. With the new mill, the total capacity would be around 450,000 tonnes per annum.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered Vedanta to shut its 400,000-tonne copper smelter in Thoothukudi following deadly protests in the region due to environmental and health concerns.
As reported in a leading daily, Vedanta has filed an appeal before the National Green Tribunal challenging the rejection of its renewal of consent to operate by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and sealing of the existing plant.