Other companies may have announced similar plans, but Vardhaan will start with 60,000 tonnes of refining capacity, company officials said. Butibori’s project builds on the company’s $500 million mining operation in Zimbabwe. Vardhan mines lithium from Zimbabwe and undergoes the refining process in Nagpur.
Sunil Joshi, who heads Vardhan, is also the promoter of Surjagad Ispat Private Limited, a company planning an integrated steel plant in Gadshiroli. Surjagad Ispat will be the second steel project under construction in the Naxalite-affected district with an investment plan of Rs 10,000 crore.
This recent development has made Nagpur a hub for lithium-ion battery manufacturing as JSW and MSN Holdings also signed a memorandum of understanding at Davos. This battery is mainly used in electric vehicles and is being promoted by Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
In a conversation with TOI in Davos, Sandeep Sirkhedkar, one of the company’s directors, claimed that this will be the country’s first lithium refinery. MIDC has already allocated an additional 500 acres of land within the Butibori site to the project. The process has already begun and it is expected to receive environmental permits from the Zimbabwean government by the end of February. According to him, land acquisition and registration for the mine have already been completed.
The mine is scheduled to begin operations by April. At the same time, the company plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the project at an additional Butibori housing complex by the end of April. The manufacturing facility is expected to be completed two years after construction begins. In the meantime, the company plans to sell the lithium to other battery manufacturers.
The company works with technology partners in Europe and the United States. Additionally, given the production capacity of Zimbabwe’s mines, Balhan is also looking forward to catering to other lithium-ion battery manufacturers, he said.
