Vedanta Ltd, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, is looking to partner with State governments to set up a copper smelter complex in a coastal region in India. The investment in the complex could be around ₹10,000 crore and provide employment to nearly 10,000 people, says an Expression of Interest (EoI) issued by the company to set up the copper-smelter complex.

The EoI says that the copper smelter of 500 KPA will require a footprint of around 1,000 acres in proximity to port along with logistics connectivity with conveyor/corridor of rail and road to handle 5 mtpa material movement on both in-bound and out-bound sides.

The issue of EoI comes with the Sterlite’s Thoothukudi plant shut since April 2018 over allegations of polluting the environment. The case to reopen is now in the Supreme Court.

The company has been facing various issues in Tamil Nadu since its entry in 1994. It has been accused of polluting the environment and the plant has been closed repeatedly, forcing the company to take legal course to re-start its operations. In fact, the Supreme Court had once fined the company ₹100 crore for violating the norms but allowed it to re-open the plant.

However, the main trigger for the plant’s closure were the protests that erupted after the company got approval to double its smelter capacity to 8 lakh tonnes. However, on April 9, 2018 the TNPCB refused to grant the Consent to Operate citing environmental concerns. In May, it ordered the plant’s closure permanently after 13 anti-Sterlite protestors were shot in police firing on May 22.

Vedanta appealed successfully to the National Green Tribunal challenging the TNPCB and State government’s orders. But the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court (MHC) stepped in and ordered a status quo. Vedanta's attempt to move the Supreme Court against the order failed as the Apex Court refused to reopen the plant and directed the company to approach the MHC.

The MHC in August refused to allow the reopening of the plant. Justices TS Sivagnanam and V Bhavani Subbaroyan in an 815-page judgement dismissed a batch of 10 petitions filed by Vedanta, among other things, challenging the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) order rejecting the Consent to Operate the plant.

With the MHC in August declining to give permission, the case is back in the Supreme Court, which in December rejected a proposal made by Vedanta to operate its closed plant in Thoothukudi for 30 days under the supervision of an expert committee appointed by the court. The Supreme Court would hear the company’s main appeal against the MHC order later.

Sterlite, which contributed nearly 40 per cent of India’s copper demand, was badly affected since its closure in May 2018. Having invested over ₹3,000 crore in the plant, it has already lost ₹4,000 crore since its shutdown. The plant employed over 4,000 people directly and benefitted over 17,000 people representing various stakeholders such as product producers, transporters and suppliers.