Sterlite Industries (India) has received government clearance to operate its recently-expanded Tuticorin copper smelter in Tamil Nadu.

Sterlite had embarked on a project that included inter alia expansion of smelting capacity from 1.8 lakh tpa to 3.0 lakh tpa. The project had reached mechanical completion in January 2005 and was awaiting environmental clearance.

Project Background

The Rs.374 crore project involved expansion of capacity of its Tuticorin Copper Smelter (to convert imported copper ore and concentrates into copper anodes) in Tamil Nadu from the existing 1.8 lakh tpa to 3.0 lakh tpa. A new refinery with capacity 1.27 lakh tpa has been set up at Tuticorin to convert copper anodes into copper cathodes. A new captive power plant of capacity 32.5 MW (22.5 MW coal-based plant + 10 MW running on waste smelter heat) will meet the increased power requirements.

The project also entailed relocation of the rod mill at Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli to Tuticorin. This is to facilitate exports from the Tuticorin port.

So far, copper anodes produced at the 1.8 lakh tpa copper smelter in Tuticorin were being sent to Silvassa for refining into copper cathodes and then to the Silvassa rod mill for conversion into copper rods.

Now, 1.8 lakh tpa of copper anodes would be processed into cathodes at the Silvassa refinery and 1.2 lakh tpa would be processed at the new Tuticorin refinery. Conversion into rods would take place only at Tuticorin

Also See:

Full project profile of Tuticorin expansion