Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd can regain control of the Konkola copper project in Zambia after a court-sanctioned plan to settle debts owed to the mine’s creditors.
On Friday, a court in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, approved a scheme of arrangement backed by Konkola Copper Mines Plc’s creditors, according to the country’s mines minister, Paul Kabuswe.
Bloomberg reported that, billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta has been attempting to reclaim the significant copper asset since 2019 when KCM was placed under provisional liquidation after the former government accused its owner of deceit regarding expansion plans and insufficient tax payments.
To regain access to the mine, Vedanta must comply with the court ruling by releasing $250 million to settle KCM’s debts to contractors and suppliers.
Vedanta has confirmed its readiness to begin the payments. Additionally, Agarwal’s firm has committed to investing $1 billion over the next five years to complete expansion projects.
Although Konkola’s annual production capacity is above 300,000 tons of copper, output fell to less than 40,000 tons in 2023. Copper is crucial to the energy transition, and its price reached a record high last month.
The flagship operation, Konkola Deep, extends nearly a mile underground and is one of the world’s wettest mines. It requires the equivalent of 140 Olympic-sized swimming pools to be pumped to the surface daily to remain operational.
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