VEDANTA RESOURCES
Vedanta Resources plc
16 Berkeley Street
London W1J 8DZ Tel: +44 (0) 20 7499 5900
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7491 8440
www.vedantaresources.com
26th June 2014, London
Tom Albanese, CEO of Vedanta Resources plc, outlined his vision for Vedanta in Africa while delivering a keynote address at the Mining on Top summit in London this morning, which brought together senior government officials, the mining industry, investors and civil society.
"‟Vedanta Resources has been in Africa now for more than a decade, and I am bullish about the potential, both of our existing companies and their opportunities but also for the future of mining across Africa.‟‟
Speaking about the mining industry‟s contribution to economic development, Mr. Albanese said,
''mining has already created much that is positive, but there are new expectations of what we need
to do in the future. I suggest that we can indeed create yet more value, building on a century‟s
learning and leveraging what we do across the African continent, to provide more benefits, more
advantages and more wealth for all stakeholders.‟‟
Introducing Vedanta‟s operations in Southern Africa, Tom Albanese said: "‟Part of our new vision at Vedanta is for an integrated zinc/lead business in southern Namibia and the Northern Cape of South Africa, creating an integrated zinc smelter/refinery complex at Rosh Pinah. We will be looking to see how we can further leverage this economically in an area of high unemployment and a fragile arid zone biodiversity. This becomes our zinc anchor in Africa.‟‟
"‟In the Zambian Copperbelt, at KCM, we continue to invest and to develop. Vedanta paid $261 million to acquire a 79.4% stake in KCM. We have invested $2.9 billion over the last decade in a new copper smelter, 3 new concentrators, a tailings leach plant and new underground facilities. We have reinvested all of our earnings back into the company. This has supported the creation of 5,000
new construction jobs and in the meantime, salaries at KCM have more than doubled in real terms. In support of wider economic development in the area, we continue to expand our vocational technical college - one of the largest private sector facilities in the region. We have paid more than
$850 million in taxes and local rates. To add to this, we have spent $120 million on local
community initiatives in areas including malaria prevention, sustainable agriculture, school, clinics
and community healthcare.‟‟
Page 1 of 2
Mr. Albanese went on to say that "for technical reasons that have delayed the ramp-up of copper production after these massive investments, KCM has been loss-making of late and some challenges remain, but to be clear, Vedanta Resources is committed to KCM and to Zambia. We have a 50 year vision for KCM and opportunities in the Copperbelt as our copper and cobalt anchor for our future African growth.‟
Turning to West Africa, Mr. Albanese said, "we have an opportunity to be an important part of the Liberian economy with a phased ramp-up of our Western Cluster business as we develop the necessary infrastructure.‟‟
He concluded his speech with a call to action to create real sustainability in mining. "‟Some have suggested that mining sustainability is an oxymoron: how can digging up and removing something be sustainable? But I believe that mining can be sustainable if we are putting back an equal value of future opportunity. At Vedanta, we appreciate how we need to do this and we will continue to engage widely to create this shared value. Creating future opportunities in return for today‟s
commodities is not just a "nice to have‟: it is essential for the sustainability of our companies, our
industry, our communities and the nations and people of Africa.‟‟
###
For further information, please contact: Roma Balwani
Executive Vice President
Group Communications & CSR Tel: +91 22 6646 1315 gc@vedanta.co.in
Vedanta Resources plc ("Vedanta") is a London listed diversified global resources major. The group produces Aluminium, Copper, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Iron ore, Power, and Oil and Gas. Vedanta has world-class assets in India, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Ireland, Liberia, Australia and Sri
Lanka and a strong organic growth pipeline of projects. With an empowered talent pool globally, Vedanta places strong emphasis on partnering with all its stakeholders based on the core values of entrepreneurship, excellence, trust, inclusiveness and growth. For more information, please visit: www.vedantaresources.com
Copies of the speech are available at www.vedantaresources.com
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should" or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from
the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.
Page 2 of 2
|
distributed by
|
