JSW Group plans to set up a 500,000 metric ton capacity copper smelter in the eastern state of Odisha by 2028/29 with feedstock of copper concentrate from Peru and Chile.

In January, JSW said it was foraying into the copper business with a 26-billion-rupee ($301.22 million) investment to operate two copper mines from Hindustan Copper for a period of 20 years, with the option to extend it for another decade.

The group now plans to set up its own smelter facility in Odisha with an investment of around 120 billion rupees and scale up the capacity to 1 million metric tons by 2033/34, the source said, declining to be identified as details about the proposed smelter are not public.

A JSW spokesperson redirected queries from Reuters to the January statement about the copper foray.

With this expansion, JSW will compete with Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s group that has set up a $1.2 billion copper smelter, the world’s biggest single-location plant of its type in the western state of Gujarat.

JSW plans to feed its planned electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities with the copper produced at the smelter, the source added. Some of the concentrate supply will come from Hindustan Copper, the source said.