Tuticorin : Sterlite Copper, India’s largest copper producer and part of the $15-billion Vedanta Resources, is all set for major expansion at its Tuticorin plant in Tamil Nadu. Having complied with all the 32 NEERI norms on environment and gas emission with an investment of R500 crore in the last two years, Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath hopes that the proposed R2,500-crore expansion will become a reality in the next six months. After the expansion, the company will become the largest copper producer in Asia and is expected to end the current financial year with R19,000 crore in revenue with an EBITDA of R1,400 crore, Ramnath said. With the Supreme Court’s approval to reopen the plant after a 85-day shutdown in 2013 due to environmental and emission issues, the company is preparing for the major expansion – doubling capacity to 800,000 tonne per annum – with the hope of getting final approval from green bench of the SC in the next six months, said Ramnath. ‘‘We have lost nearly R4,000 crore in revenue due to the closure,’’ he said. ‘‘Though we got approvals from the National Green Tribunals of Chennai and Delhi as well as from the MoEF (ministry of environment and forests) for our expansion, the state pollution control board (PCB) had moved the Supreme Court green bench questioning the NGTs' intervention in this issue, and also sought public hearing. The case is being heard now by the SC’s green bench and we hope to cross the final hurdle,’’ he said. According to Ramnath, any industry set up in the industrial estates of the state government does not require public hearing for its expansion plans as per environmental impact assessment (EIA) norms. However, the company is involved in meeting people at regular intervals. It also invested heavily in the last two years and complied to almost all the NEERI’s recommendations. ‘‘We have ensured that the limits of gas/acid emissions and other environmental parametres are well within the prescribed norms of the central government (even much lower levels) and has benchmarked our smelter on the global lines. The perception of people against us is also slowly changing and we invite common people to visit our plant on weekends to see and feel the reality’’ he added. ‘‘We have invested R165 crore towards environmental conservation with the flue gas desulphurisation system (FGDS) and the bag house for converter, which ensures good air quality by arresting fugitive gases, hazardous wastes, freeing metal contents and capturing dusts through scrubber,’’ he said.