Vedanta’s copper smelting unit in Tuticorin will be shut for 15 days as part of a routine maintenance, according to information provided by the company to the BSE.
A senior company official told BusinessLine the four-lakh-tonne a year smelting unit is being shut to replace the refractory brick lining in the smelter, an exercise that is carried out every four years. The refining and copper rod production will continue.
Meanwhile, the ₹2,500-crore expansion project at the unit to double the capacity is on schedule, the official said.
L&T has been awarded the EPC contract and is setting up the entire expanded facility, the official said. When completed in about a year’s time the annual capacity of the plant will go to 8 lakh tonnes of copper cathode, which is refined copper of 99.95 per cent purity.
For now, from the refined copper the unit makes about 2.5 lakh tonnes of copper rods for the domestic market and about 1.5 lakh tonnes of plates for domestic and export markets.
The raw material, copper concentrate is imported through the Tuticorin Port.
In addition, the by products are about 10 lakh tonnes of sulphuric acid and nearly half this is used to make about 2 lakh tonnes of phosphoric acid. These are used by domestic industries, including chemicals and fertiliser units. With the expansion, the output of these acids will also go up.
Protests in Tuticorin
On the protests in Tuticorin town against the expansion project, the company has launched an awareness campaign on the environment safety that is being addressed. All norms are being complied with and the project has been taken up with proper statutory clearances.
Officials said the unit is a zero liquid discharge unit that completely recycles the water. Even for the expansion facility, a 12 mld desalination plant will be set up and in addition, primary treated sewage water from Turicorin municipality will be bought and recycled at the company’s sewage treatment plant for water. Emission is continuously monitored online, live by pollution control agencies to ensure that all norms are followed, the official said.
The expansion will generate about 5,000 direct jobs adding to the 4,500 already employed.