April 24, 2024 22:11 (IST)
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South Africa's Minister visits Vedanta's operations in India
Mumbai, Dec 12 (IBNS): South Africa's Deputy Minister for Mineral Resources Godfrey Oliphant visited Vedanta's Indian business units last week, along with a 5-member delegation.
With an aim to strengthen ties and mutual cooperation, the primary objective of the visit was to gather a first-hand experience of the various operations of Vedanta which is a global diversified natural resources group.
The Minister and the delegation visited Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper smelter in Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu), Hindustan Zinc Limited’s mines and smelter in Rajasthan, SSLT’s power plant in Jharsuguda (Odisha) and Cairn India Limited’s oil fields in Barmer, Rajasthan.
The delegation discussed possibilities of enhancing cooperation in areas like zinc beneficiation and captive power and energy, taking into account the advanced technology in SSLT Jharsuguda, Cairn India and Hindustan Zinc limited.
This includes the transfer of technical skills to South Africans through the company’s global leadership programme and secondments into Indian operations. The delegation was accompanied by senior officials of the Vedanta group led by Kishore Kumar, CEO, Base Metals (Africa, Ireland and Australia).
Vedanta, which is among the largest investors in South Africa, demonstrated to the South African Ministerial delegation its business practices, technology, operations, technical skills of employees and values as a responsible corporate citizen.
The delegation also had a first-hand account of Sustainable Development programmes as part of Vedanta’s corporate social investment in communities surrounding its operations and the group’s responsibility towards environmental management.
Commenting on the visit, Godfrey Oliphant said: “I am very impressed with the vision of Mr Anil Agarwal, Chairman of the Vedanta group for a relationship between India and South Africa. The company has been able to demonstrate their abilities, particularly in sectors like zinc, aluminium and power. We will use Vedanta’s experiences, expertise and skills in various sectors like zinc beneficiation, captive power generation, copper smelting and production of crude oil and gas.”
The Minister further said that, “Vedanta has recently announced the development of the world’s largest undeveloped zinc deposit, ‘Gamsberg Project’ in phases and will invest USD 782 million in developing the assets in phase one. This investment alone will bring many benefits for the South African economy and is a resounding vote of confidence in our country’s mineral resources.”
Tom Albanese, CEO, Vedanta group, commending the visit of the South African Ministerial delegation said, “Vedanta is closely working with the Government of South Africa for achieving long term goals of poverty eradication and community development by using the country’s vast mineral wealth. The Gamsberg Project is central to company’s long term growth plans and provides significant synergies to both our operations and compliments the needs of the region.”
Kishore Kumar, CEO, Base Metals (Africa, Ireland and Australia), Vedanta group said: “We demonstrated our world-class business practices, technology, operations, technical skills of employees and values as a responsible corporate citizen. The visit of Hon’ble Minister and his delegation will lead to increasing our partnership with the South African government in various sectors including zinc and energy.”
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