Vedanta Regains Control of Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia After Court Approval
Vedanta Resources Ltd. can regain control of the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) project in Zambia following a court-sanctioned plan to settle the mine’s debts.
On Friday, a court in Lusaka approved a scheme of arrangement supported by KCM’s creditors, as announced by Zambia’s Mines Minister, Paul Kabuswe, on Facebook.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta has been striving to reclaim the significant copper asset since 2019. At that time, KCM was placed into provisional liquidation by the previous government, which accused the owner of misleading about expansion plans and underpaying taxes.
To regain access to the mine, Vedanta must now comply with the court ruling by releasing $250 million to settle KCM’s debts to contractors and suppliers.
Vedanta has stated it is prepared to begin these payments and has also committed to investing $1 billion over the next five years to complete expansion projects.
Despite Konkola’s annual production capacity exceeding 300,000 tons of copper, output fell to less than 40,000 tons in 2023. This significant drop comes at a time when copper prices have surged to record highs.
The flagship operation, Konkola Deep, extends almost a mile underground and is one of the world’s wettest mines, requiring the daily pumping of water equivalent to 140 Olympic-sized swimming pools to remain operational.
