Vedanta sells copper concentrate from stockpiles at shuttered India smelter
NEW DELHI/SHANGHAI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - India's Vedanta Ltd has been selling copper concentrate on the spot marketfrom stockpiles at its Sterlite smelter, a company officialsaid, after the facility was forced to stop operating earlierthis year amid pollution concerns.
The company is disposing of around 70,000 tonnes of copperconcentrate that have been lying unused since the closure of theplant, the official told Reuters on Thursday. He declined to beidentified, saying it was against company policy.
The Tamil Nadu state disconnected the smelter's power supplyin May following anti-pollution protests that turned violent andculminated in the police opening fire, killing 13 protesters. The company has denied that the plant, India's secondbiggest copper smelter located in the port city of Thoothukudi,pollutes the area.
The closure of the plant has disrupted Asia's copper market.But traders expect it to restart in 2019, saying the selldown ofstockpiles was likely to be because the company is looking toraise cash and square its books before year-end rather than asign the facility would not reopen.
"A few weeks we had got some enquiries (from Vedanta),"Birla Copper CEO J. C. Laddha told Reuters.
"If they are selling and it makes sense for us commercially,we would definitely be interested."
Spot treatment and refining charges (TC/RCS), which minerspay smelters to process their metal, have moved to two-yearhighs at $91.50 and 9.2 cents according to Asian Metal, up by aquarter from five-year lows touched in April. That is higher than benchmark terms for next year that wereagreed this week. Chinese copper smelter Jiangxi Copper and miner Antofagasta agreed 2019 coppertreatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) at $80.80 a tonne and8.08 cents a pound, three sources familiar with the matter said.
(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI, Tom Daly inSHANGHAI and Melanie Burton in MELBOURNE; Editing by JosephRadford)
+613 9286 1421; Reuters Messaging:melanie.burton.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.  |