Indo Gulf Corp, a leading Indian copper manufacturer and part of the Aditya Vikram Birla group, said on Monday it was in talks to acquire copper mines overseas, including in Australia and South Africa. "We are interested in acquiring mines or even forming joint ventures with companies abroad having good copper deposits," said Debu Bhattacharya, managing director of Indo Gulf.
"However, a controlling interest would be a better option." He said the company was in need of additional copper concentrate to meet its future requirements.
"Which is why we are also planning to expand our smelter capacity by between 70,000 tonnes and 100,000 tonnes annually," he added. The present smelting capacity of Indo Gulf is 150,000 tonnes per annum.
"In the export markets of the Middle East, southeast Asian regions, China, Korea and Taiwan, there is a perceptible demand-supply gap. We are confident of growing further in the export sector," Bhattacharya said.
The company's exports increased to 42,879 tonnes in 2001-2002 from 10,272 tonnes the previous year.
Indo Gulf posted net profit of Rs 300 crore ((62 million dollars) in 2001-2002 on sales of Rs 2,700 crore. Bureau Report