CHENNAI: Shares of Vedanta Ltd fell to a 10-month low, closing down 7.21 per cent at Rs 250.50 on Wednesday after protests to close down one of its largest copper smelters operated by its subsidiary Sterlite in Tuticorin,
India turned fatal with as many as 13 people feared killed. The company’s shares closed down 6.2 per cent to Rs 252.70 in the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
The UK-based company, which reported a 27 per cent rise in earnings before tax, interest and depreciation for the year ended 2017-18 due to a rebound in copper prices internationally, said on Wednesday that it is working with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and other regulators to restart operations at its copper producing facility.
The Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu, which has a share of about 35 per cent in India’s copper market, was closed down due to a pending renewal of its consent to operate. The company had earlier said that it has been planning to expand capacity of the unit to produce 8,00,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year, from its current capacity of 4,00,000 tonnes.
Protests calling out for the closure of the plant have been carried out for the past 100 days by civilians, activists and regional political parties alleging that the shorter chimney stacks which the company used would lead to accumulation of copper waste in nearby rivers, thereby contaminating ground water.
Shares drop 7%
➊ Shares of Vedanta Ltd falls as much as 7 .21% to J250.50, their lowest since July 4, 2017
➋Demonstrations against the copper plant in Tamil Nadu, has been going on for more than 3 months
➌ Company says it is working with regulators to expedite restarting its copper smelter