AgenciesBillionaire Anil Agarwal Wednesday said his Vedanta Group has withdrawn the ongoing arbitration against the central government regarding a second call option on the latter's residual stake in erstwhile PSUs and Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco), enabling the two group companies to expand aggressively.
The metals and mining conglomerate has done everything that the government asked of it and is now hopeful of the Centre soon divesting its stake in both the companies, Agarwal told ET in an exclusive interview.
"In the agreement it was decided that within three years they will divest. It's almost 15-16 years now. Hopefully, they will divest soon," the chairman of Group said. Hindustan Zinc could also explore an alliance with Vedanta's zinc assets in South Africa.
In the arrangement, the government is likely to sell shares to public investors directly instead of the promoters of Vedanta, which Mr Agarwal said his group is in agreement.
Vedanta has also committed to invest upwards of $1 billion at the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia to develop its mining assets and modernise the related infrastructure, Agarwal said.
The move can be viewed as the global mining conglomerate extending an olive branch to the government of the African nation amidst their ongoing legal dispute. The previous Zambian government put KCM into liquidation in May 2019, accusing Vedanta of failing to honour licence conditions. Vedanta has denied these allegations.
"It is very unfortunate that the last government (put KCM into liquidation). This government has come, and it believes that we are the most creditable people and we are working with them," Agarwal said.
"Whatever investment is required (we will put in). Money will never be a constraint to starting this mine," he said. It is the largest copper mine in the world.
Vedanta is also considering acquiring a nickel mine in Africa if it finds one that is already operational, Agarwal said. Meanwhile, it will develop its recently acquired Nicomet in India to produce up to 40,000 tonnes of nickel and cobalt annually from 7,500 tonnes at present.
The metals and mining conglomerate has done everything that the government asked of it and is now hopeful of the Centre soon divesting its stake in both the companies, Agarwal told ET in an exclusive interview.
"In the agreement it was decided that within three years they will divest. It's almost 15-16 years now. Hopefully, they will divest soon," the chairman of Group said. Hindustan Zinc could also explore an alliance with Vedanta's zinc assets in South Africa.
In the arrangement, the government is likely to sell shares to public investors directly instead of the promoters of Vedanta, which Mr Agarwal said his group is in agreement.
Vedanta has also committed to invest upwards of $1 billion at the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia to develop its mining assets and modernise the related infrastructure, Agarwal said.
The move can be viewed as the global mining conglomerate extending an olive branch to the government of the African nation amidst their ongoing legal dispute. The previous Zambian government put KCM into liquidation in May 2019, accusing Vedanta of failing to honour licence conditions. Vedanta has denied these allegations.
"It is very unfortunate that the last government (put KCM into liquidation). This government has come, and it believes that we are the most creditable people and we are working with them," Agarwal said.
"Whatever investment is required (we will put in). Money will never be a constraint to starting this mine," he said. It is the largest copper mine in the world.
Vedanta is also considering acquiring a nickel mine in Africa if it finds one that is already operational, Agarwal said. Meanwhile, it will develop its recently acquired Nicomet in India to produce up to 40,000 tonnes of nickel and cobalt annually from 7,500 tonnes at present.
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