Vedanta Resources pays $246 mln dues to help revive operations at Zambian copper mine
Reworks throughout, adds details, background from paragraph 2
BENGALURU, July 19 (Reuters) -UK-based Vedanta Resources, parent of India's Vedanta VDAN.NS, has settled dues worth $245.75 million to help revive operations in Konkola copper mines (KCM) in Zambia as part of a deal to take back the mines, the Indian miner said on Friday.
The miner, owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal, had in November 2023 regained control of the copper mines and smelter, which the Zambian administration had seized in 2019, but needed to pay creditors of the mines to revive operations.
Vedanta Resources gained control of KCM's assets following a five-year legal battle after the former Zambian President Edgar Lungu accused the company of failing to invest to expand copper production and seized its assets.
The UK-based company will still need to raise an additional $1 billion to revive the KCM's mining operations and invest in advancing the Konkola deep mining project, which holds one of the richest copper deposits in the world, as per a Reuters report from early July.
The Zambian government owns a 20% stake in KCM through ZCCM ZCCM.EUA, a mining investment company, while Vedanta Resources owns the rest.
Last month, Anil Agarwal said Vedanta Resources is looking to reduce its debt by $3 billion over the next three years, as the company grapples with mounting debt and a host of rating downgrades since last year.
Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mrigank Dhaniwala
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