Chile's Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, announced on Wednesday that it would supply copper concentrates to the Adani Group's $1.2 billion smelter in India, which is the largest single-location plant of its kind globally. The supply agreement is set to commence this year following a meeting between Codelco's chairman Maximo Pacheco and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani at the conglomerate's headquarters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The smelter, officially known as Kutch Copper, is also situated in Gujarat and has plans to procure concentrates from Chile and other countries. Having commenced operations a year prior, the smelter recently ventured into a joint venture to produce wires and cables.

India has seen a significant increase in copper imports since the closure of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper smelter in 2018, which had an annual output of about 400,000 metric tons of copper. Presently, Hindalco Industries, a part of the Aditya Birla group, and Hindustan Copper, a state-run mining company, are the only entities producing copper in India.

Additionally, Codelco has entered into a preliminary agreement with Hindustan Copper for cooperation in mineral exploration and processing.