State-owned Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) has awarded LOHUM the rights to restart, upgrade and operate its 50,000 tonne-per-annum copper project at Jhagadia in Gujarat under a 20-year revenue-sharing agreement, extendable by another five years, as India seeks to strengthen domestic copper supplies amid rapidly rising demand from renewable energy, electric vehicles and data centres.
The Letter of Award was handed over by HCL Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Kumar Singh, along with senior company officials to Lohum.
The upgraded facility will produce 99.9997% pure Grade-A copper cathodes, meeting international quality standards and catering to demand from sectors including power, electronics, construction and electric mobility.
The project comes at a time when copper demand is emerging as a critical component of India’s energy transition and manufacturing ambitions.
According to the company, every megawatt of solar capacity requires around 3,000 kg of copper, while each electric vehicle uses approximately 60-80 kg of the metal. The rapidly expanding artificial intelligence and data centre ecosystem is also emerging as a major demand driver, with a single AI data centre consuming about 28-30 tonnes of copper.
India’s copper demand crossed 1,878 kilotonnes in FY25 and is growing at more than 9% annually, underlining the need for additional domestic refining and processing capacity.
The companies said the revival of the Gujarat facility would help strengthen domestic copper availability, support infrastructure development and reduce dependence on imports.
As India’s only vertically integrated copper producer, Hindustan Copper will provide established mining and industrial infrastructure, while LOHUM will bring operational expertise and materials science capabilities to modernise and operate the project.
The partners said the model could serve as a template for collaboration between public sector enterprises and private industry in developing domestic critical mineral value chains.
“Copper is foundational to every aspect of India’s growth story. This revival of Hindustan Copper’s Gujarat facility is about making sure that India rapidly produces more of what it needs, from resources already in place, in facilities that already exist,” said Rajat Verma, Founder and CEO, Lohum.
The project is aligned with the government’s National Critical Mineral Mission, as well as broader efforts to strengthen domestic manufacturing under the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat initiatives.