‘Will play a crucial role in reducing import reliance on critical minerals’

Vedanta Resources has laid out an ambitious road map to transform itself into a $100-billion energy, critical minerals, and tech conglomerate.

- ARUNIMA BHARADWAJ

The company is aggressively investing in backward integration and asset acquisitions backed by major expansions in aluminium, copper, oil & gas, and rare earths both in India and overseas, CEO Deshnee Naidoo told Arunima Bharadwaj.

Naidoo said the company will complete the demerger process within this fiscal, enabling it to unlock greater value. Excerpts:

What are your future growth plans?

We have always been strong believers of the transformative power of metals and mining. Most major economies have grown on the back of the strong growth in these sectors, and India is now at that stage, ready to capitalise on its immense mineral potential and drive the energy transition. We have a number of growth projects underway. In India, our focus is on strengthening backward integration. For aluminium, we are doubling the Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Odisha to 5 MTPA by FY26 and then debottlenecking to 6 MTPA by FY28. We are also expanding captive coal and bauxite mining, which will structurally reduce costs and make the aluminium value chain even more robust and self-reliant.

In iron ore, we currently produce about 12 million tonnes across three locations, and the plan is to scale this up to 30 million tonnes, supported by beneficiation and value-added inputs for steel-making. Internationally, the most exciting project is Zambia’s Konkola Deep Mining Project. We have committed $1 billion to the restart program, unlocking one of the richest, most attractive copper deposits globally. The infrastructure is already in place, which shortens go-to-market timelines and positions it as a near-term growth engine.