When Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi was closed down after violent protests in 2018, India became a net importer of copper after 18 years. What has been India’s loss, has turned out to be Pakistan’s gain. According to media reports in Pakistan, the country’s copper shipments to China have seen a surge of 400% in terms of value.
The News of Pakistan, quoting a report from China Economic Net, reported that the copper product exports to China increased to $550 million last year from $106 million three years ago. It said that Pakistan’s export increased through the Reko Diq Project, one of its largest reserves. Reko Diq is a small desert town in Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran. It added that the shipments of copper had boosted the local industry in Pakistan.
The Reko Diq project has been under dispute since BHP, an Anglo-Australian mining firm discovered large swathes of gold and copper ores. BHP had sold its stake to Tethyan Copper Company but Balochistan did not acknowledge it. The latter then dragged the former to the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and managed to get the $5.95 billion order in its favour. But the dispute hasn’t been resolved yet.
Beijing is looking forward to increasing copper exports from Pakistan once the dispute is resolved. China’s state owned Mettalurgical Corporation has been executing another project since 1995 called the Saindak gold-copper project in Balochistan. The Saindak project yields 4.5 million tonnes of copper ores a year and helps in smelting 13,000 tonnes of copper annually. With the reserves at Saindak depleting fast, China is hoping to take over the operations of the Reko Diq project.
The Sterlite Copper was shut by the Tamil Nadu government following violent protests that rocked Thoothukudi in which 13 persons were shot after they turned violent by torching vehicles and damaging properties. The protests demanding closure of Sterlite started in February 2018 after Vedanta launched works for plant expansion.
Sterlite Copper contributed close to 40% of the country’s total copper production. The Union government in Parliament said that the plant’s closure had led to import of the metal rise and exports to fall. Imports doubled to 92,990 tonnes in 2018-19 financial year while the exports dropped to 47,917 tonnes from 3.78 lakh tonnes.