India's state-owned giants are in the final stages of locking a joint venture with CODELCO for the exploration of four copper blocks in Chile, Mines Secretary Piyush Goyal said during a press conference in New Delhi.

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"The four blocks in Chile that are being taken up will be developed in collaboration with PSUs. Apart from HCL Ltd, one is Coal India Limited, and the other is NTPC Mining. These companies are jointly working on those blocks."

Commenting on the development, another top official aware of the matter said, ''Multiple Indian PSUs are likely to hold stakes in the Joint Venture, led primarily by Hindustan Copper Ltd., along with Coal India and NTPC.''

"Currently, a team of five to six delegates from a few PSUs, including Hindustan Copper, GAIL, etc., is likely to visit Chile for due diligence around April 18-19. Apart from HCL, Coal India and NTPC, some oil majors like GAIL, Indian Oil, Oil India and RITES are also likely to explore a partnership in the JV," the official added.

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Copper sits at the heart of India's industrial and energy transition ambitions. It flows through power cables, EV wiring, solar installations, defence systems, construction and India does not produce nearly enough of it. India imported $10.33 billion worth of copper across all product categories, including ore, concentrate, refined cathode, scrap and semi-finished goods in 2024, according to UN Comtrade data.

"In copper, we have been importing very large quantities of certain copper products, roughly ₹43,000 crore, and the entire downstream processing and refining of that copper is now being done within the country," according to the Mines Secretary.

Imports of refined copper rose sharply after the closure of Vedanta's Sterlite smelter in Tuticorin in 2018, at the time India's largest, with a refining capacity of around 400,000 tonnes per annum. Its shutdown significantly deepened India's dependence on imported refined copper, a gap that has widened since.

But that equation may be shifting. "This year, perhaps for the first time, India's entire domestic requirement for processed copper will be met 100% through domestic production," Goyal said. He further added, "By the end of this year, based on domestic production, and possibly from next year onwards, we may even become exporters."

India's only copper mining company, Hindustan Copper Limited, is a vertically integrated copper producer engaged in exploration, mining, beneficiation, smelting, refining, and associated downstream activities, a Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Mines. Its recent performance has been the strongest in years.

HCL registered Metal-In-Concentrate production of 27,421 tonnes in FY2025-26, 9% higher than FY2024-25 and the highest in seven years, while Ore production reached 3.67 million tonnes, up 6% (YoY). HCL holds access to about 45% of India's copper ore reserves and resources as of FY25, with total reserves and resources estimated at 755.32 million tonnes.

Yet by global standards, these are modest numbers. Chile's CODELCO, the world's largest state-owned copper mining corporation, produced 1.44 million tonnes of copper in 2024 alone, more than fifty times HCL's current output. 

The Chile JV discussion also comes on the back of a March 2025 Memorandum of Understanding signed between HCL and CODELCO that focused on knowledge sharing and best practices to facilitate exploration, mining, and mineral beneficiation, along with employee training and capacity building. The two teams have since made multiple visits between sites in Chile and India to take the partnership further.