State-run Hindustan Copper plans to sell copper concentrate produced by mines it is acquiring from Chile's Codelco to Hindalco and Adani, aiming to meet India's growing appetite for the red metal, two sources familiar with the matter said.
It is also in talks to form a joint venture with state-run Codelco to mine and sell copper, three sources said, declining to be identified as the deliberations were confidential.
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Hindustan Copper, Coal India and NTPC Mining are in discussions to secure four copper mining blocks from Codelco, India's mines secretary said in April.
Last year, Hindustan Copper signed a preliminary agreement with Codelco about looking at mutually beneficial opportunities in exploration and mining. In May this year, it signed a non-disclosure agreement with Codelco and appointed a deal advisor.
It did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. It has previously denied that it is in talks about a joint venture.
Codelco, NTPC Mining and Coal India also did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
India, the world's second-biggest refined copper importer, may have to import 91% to 97% of its copper concentrates by 2047, the government has said.
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Hindalco, an Aditya Birla Group-owned firm, is one of India's biggest aluminium and copper producers. The Adani conglomerate runs Kutch Copper, a $1.2 billion smelter in the western state of Gujarat that it says is the world's biggest single-location plant of its type.
According to two of the sources, due diligence is ongoing and Hindustan Copper is open to having partners for the JV such as Coal India and NTPC Mining.
Early this year, a technical team from Hindustan Copper and executives from NTPC Mining and Coal India visited Chile, the sources said, adding that it would still take a decade before mining could begin and concentrate is produced.
India plans to include a chapter on copper in free trade pact talks with Chile to secure a fixed quantity of copper concentrate, the government said last year.
India produces an estimated 573,000 metric tons of refined copper annually but demand is much greater at around 1.8 million tons.
