Sterlite smelter can operate until July second week

The smelter uses imported concentrates and produces 30,000 tonnes of refined copper a month, more than half of India's total production

 

India's top copper smelter can operate once it re-opens until the second week of July, when experts will submit a report on its operations, a Supreme Court judge said on Monday.

 

A further hearing will take place after the panel of experts submits its report, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra said.

 

The local pollution board in Tamil Nadu, which had originally ordered the smelter to shut at the end of March after complaints of emissions, took the case to the top court after the National Green Tribunal ruled against it.

 

The smelter, run by Sterlite Industries , a unit of London-listed Vedanta , uses imported concentrates and produces 30,000 tonnes of refined copper a month, more than half of India's total production. Its closure has squeezed domestic copper supplies and boosted imports. (Reporting by Suchitra Mohanty; Editing by Jo Winterbottom)