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Copper price within sight of all-time high as Chinese smelters hit record activity

Frik Els | April 18, 2026 | 

(Image courtesy of Glencore.)

Copper ended the week up more than 5% reaching a 10-week high at the close on Friday. At $6.11 per pound ($13,480 a tonne) in New York, May futures are back to within shouting distance of the all-time high closing price struck at the end of January, the day before the start of the Iran war.

The positive trend was underscored by new satellite data showing March smelter activity continuing to improve after hitting the lowest on record since tracking began nearly a decade ago in January this year.

Earth-i’s latest SAVANT Global Copper Smelting Index shows that 11.7% of global smelting capacity was inactive in March, down from 14.3% registered in January. Earth-i’s satellites cover some 95% of global capacity.

The increased activity was concentrated in China where the country-level inactive capacity sub-index fell by 1.1% to just 3.9%.

London-based Earth-i points out that together with the continuing build out of smelting capacity on the mainland, this resulted in an all-time high active capacity reading of 10.73 million tonnes, more than 775,000 tonnes higher than a year ago and 1.49 million tonnes above the 3-year average.

“This speaks to the improvement in downstream activity in recent weeks, as demand recovers following a ‘buyer’s strike’ in response to record high copper prices in January that has also seen imports from international market slump.”

Outside China, with the exception of Africa where the central copper belt showed strong operating performance, activity fell.

In Iran two smelters with combined capacity of 400,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) are offline (outside their historical routine maintenance schedules) and the ongoing outage at the 300,000-tpa Mount Isa smelter in Queensland, Australia, helped keep the Asia & Oceania regional inactivity sub index elevated at 18.7%, well above its 3-year average of only 5.7%.

According to Earth-i, inactivity did tick up modestly in Europe by 2.1%, but the region is still showing the lowest average percentage of idled capacity at 6.2%. Meanwhile smelting continues to be weakest in the western hemisphere, with the inactive capacity sub-index for North America rising by 10.3% in March to 32.3%, moving above that of South America at 27.4%.

Acid test

Chinese smelters’ willingness to buy concentrate increased further as sulfuric acid prices surged with FOB China at $210 per tonne in April, up 74% since January due to disruptions from the Iran war, according to a S&P Global Energy report.

This allows the country’s operators to secure short-term margins while putting additional pressure on TC/RCs (charges paid by miners to refiners). Spot TCRCs have plunged into deeply negative territory, with recent spot market tenders closing near –$78.50 per tonne and –7.85¢ per lb according to Platts, a unit of S&P Global Energy. That’s a swing from a positive $50 per tonne in January 2024.

The downward pressure on TC/RCs will remain, says S&P Global as the copper concentrate export permit for Indonesia’s Batu Hijau mine is set to expire at the end of April. In addition, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kamoa-Kakula 500,000-tpa capacity smelter began anode production at the end of 2025 which will consume domestically produced copper concentrate, further curbing exports.

The benchmark annual contract market has followed this collapse. Antofagasta’s 2026 benchmark agreement with a Chinese smelter settled at zero dollars, the lowest annual TC/RC terms ever recorded.

Codelco targets higher 2027 output to reclaim top copper spot

Bloomberg News | April 17, 2026 | 

Chuquicamata smelter. (Image courtesy of Codelco | Flickr.)

Codelco is targeting a slight increase in copper output in 2027 as Chile’s state-owned miner looks to reclaim the mantle of world’s biggest supplier of the industrial metal.

Total production next year is budgeted at 1.5 million metric tons, according to people briefed on the projections. The amount includes Codelco’s share of output from mines it doesn’t operate but holds minority ownership in. Production from its own mines is targeted to rise to 1.37 million tons from 1.34 million tons this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because 2027 guidance hasn’t yet been published.

The company is striving to reverse a prolonged decline in output while getting its aging mines and delayed expansion projects back on track. Chairman Maximo Pacheco is eying a return to pre-pandemic levels of 1.7 million tons by the end of the decade when the global market is expected to tighten.

Codelco has overhauled management and decentralized project leadership to counter falling ore grades, cost overruns and a heavy debt load. Bloomberg Intelligence says Codelco is on track to displace BHP Group as the top global producer. BHP operates Escondida in northern Chile, the world’s biggest single copper mine.

“If Codelco manages to squeeze out a few more tons and Escondida’s grade does decline according to the mine plan, Codelco could take top spot again,” BI analyst Grant Sporre said.

(By James Attwood)

Codelco, Anglo pursue twin environmental approvals for shared Chile copper pit

Reuters | April 16, 2026 | 

Los Bronces is Anglos’s flagship mine in Chile. (Image courtesy of Anglo American | Flickr)

Chilean copper producer Codelco and global miner Anglo American plan to submit separate environmental studies to regulators for their planned shared copper mine in Chile, documents seen by Reuters show, using what they called an “unprecedented” twin-track to streamline the approval process.

The previously unreported documents on the Andina-Los Bronces project, presented to environmental authorities in January, show the companies plan in December to file two largely identical applications for a pit where they would jointly extract copper in the world’s top producer of the red metal.

Anglo American and Codelco strike $5B copper deal

The model could serve as a blueprint for other major miners seeking to share infrastructure and operations to raise output amid an expected global supply crunch, while setting up Codelco and Anglo American to move faster and cut down on risks.

Codelco and Anglo finalized the deal in September, planning to add about 120,000 metric tons of copper per year from 2030 to 2051, generating at least $5 billion in pre-tax value.

Codelco chairman Maximo Pacheco, as well as a source at Anglo American, confirmed to Reuters that the firms plan to file the two applications at the end of the year.

‘Mirror’ applications

In areas where operations will overlap, the companies proposed applying identical environmental measures to each miner.

A single filing was not legally viable, they argued, because Chile’s constitution requires Codelco to retain ownership of its mining concessions, one presentation showed.

The companies also considered filing three applications: one from each miner to extend the useful life of their respective mines, and a third from a joint entity that would run the shared operation.

They ruled that out because it would require the firms to give up their existing open-pit environmental permits to make way for the combined mine.

The dual structure would also allow the mines to potentially return to independent operations in the future.

Work on the ground

The documents detailed plans to create a single pit over the existing pits.

Anglo American’s Los Bronces and Codelco’s Andina pits are adjacent, and the companies’ plan showed the rock barrier between them would also be mined, creating a single operating pit while keeping the project largely within the mines’ existing footprint.

Ore extracted from the shared pit would be sent interchangeably to Los Bronces’ and Andina’s processing plants, while waste rock would be deposited in each company’s own waste dumps, one document showed.

Changes to waste dumps, tailings facilities, pipelines and support infrastructure would still be needed for the two mines to operate as an integrated system.

Shared infrastructure would avoid duplicate facilities, cut freshwater use and reduce pressure on the surrounding area, the companies said.

Risks to sharing a mine

The companies also flagged significant risks, such as the need for close coordination with regulators, which could strain Chile’s already slow-moving environmental review system.

They highlighted the project’s “high public visibility” and the risk that environmentalists and affected communities could argue the two reviews obscure the scale of the impacts.

Los Bronces has faced years of scrutiny by residents, regulators and courts over alleged impacts on air quality, water use and glaciers in the high Andes where the mine operates.

While Codelco and Anglo argue the dual-track approach would reduce the risk of underestimating impacts, they acknowledged it could lead to duplicate or unnecessary environmental management measures.

The firms plan to begin outreach to local communities and other stakeholders in the second half of the year, one document showed.

(By Kylie Madry and Fabian Cambero; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Mark Potter)

KGHM seeks copper mines closer to home to reduce logistics costs

Reuters | April 15, 2026 | 

Sierra Gorda mine in Chile. Credit: KGHM

Copper producer KGHM is looking to invest in mines in Europe and Morocco to secure ore supplies closer to its smelting base in Poland and lower logistics costs, the company’s CEO said on Wednesday.

KGHM, which operates the Robinson mine in the US and holds 55% in Sierra Gorda in Chile on top of its Polish assets, last month signed a memorandum with Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines and Moroccan mining firm Managem Group on cooperation in raw materials.

“We are looking for opportunities to have some resource closer to our smelting sites in Poland,” KGHM CEO Remigiusz Paszkiewicz told Reuters in an interview at the company’s Chile branch office in Santiago.

“Morocco is a good one. There is also at least one in Europe itself, an opportunity for us. We are now checking the chemistry of the deposit, let’s say,” he added, declining to identify which European company KGHM was looking at.

KGHM has dispatched geologists to Morocco and is waiting for an initial report from them, Paszkiewicz said, adding that the results could come in the next two weeks.

The Moroccan mine would serve as a source of supply to the global market as well as KGHM, he explained, as the company wants to remain active in concentrates trading. Just over half KGHM’s 710,000 metric tons of copper production in 2025 came from its own concentrates.

State-backed KGHM intends to maintain investment in Polish mining, even as it also looks at opportunities further afield in Chile and Argentina, Paszkiewicz said.

“But we see that the world is still changing,” he added, raising the possibility of switching KGHM’s Legnica copper smelter to a recycling plant.

“Probably it is … written down in the draft of our strategy that step by step we will be moving in the direction that Legnica is recycling and Glogow is our main smelting factory,” Paszkiewicz said.

KGHM will unveil its new strategy at the end of the quarter.

The company is also looking to extend its “production chain” in the United States, Paszkiewicz said, stressing that this did not necessarily mean building a copper smelter there.

(By Tom Daly; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

 

Codelco in talks with India’s HCL for Chile copper joint venture

Bloomberg News | April 15, 2026 | 

Chile’s Chuquicamata open pit copper mine moved underground last year. It was the world’s largest. (Image courtesy of Codelco via Flickr)

Codelco is negotiating a copper venture with India’s Hindustan Copper Ltd. as the Chilean state-owned miner turns to foreign partnerships to develop unexploited deposits, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal under discussion is for a joint venture in which Codelco would put up one of its undeveloped deposits in Chile, with HCL taking on capital commitments, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing ongoing confidential talks. Investments would exceed $1 billion, they said.

Codelco “maintains multiple conversations and negotiations” on potential partnerships to develop a portfolio of exploration projects, the Santiago-based company responded when asked about talks with HCL. HCL didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Codelco, one of the most indebted global miners, is teaming up with foreign firms — including BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group — in a bid to drill deposits without adding to its already heavy investment burden as new projects get trickier and pricier to develop. At the same time, Chile’s new government under President Jose Antonio Kast is cutting red-tape and easing regulation in a bid to unlock investments in mining.

Codelco is turning more to India as a buyer of its copper. Indian companies, meanwhile, are looking to Chile, which boasts the world’s biggest copper reserves, to secure supply, integrate upstream and stay competitive in a tightening global market.

The prospective Codelco-HCL deal comes a year after both state-owned companies signed a memorandum of understanding during former Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s visit to India. The MoU focuses on exchanging information to facilitate exploration, mining, and mineral processing, along with employee training and capacity building.

(By Carolina Gonzalez and James Attwood)

Ivanhoe holds ‘captive audience’ on Congo sulphuric acid market, CEO says

Reuters | April 15, 2026 | 

Credit: Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines has a “captive audience” for its sulphuric acid in the Democratic Republic of Congo, its CEO said on Wednesday, as prices for the chemical soar on limited supplies due to the Iran conflict.

Vancouver-based Ivanhoe this year started selling sulphuric acid as a byproduct of copper smelting at its Kamoa-Kakula project to other mine operators on the DRC copper belt, which need acid to dissolve copper from ore in a process known as leaching.

Supplies from the key Middle East region have struggled to reach world markets, raising fears of a global sulphuric acid squeeze. The DRC alone has an acid market of about 2 million metric tons per year, Ivanhoe CEO Marna Cloete told Reuters on the sidelines of a copper industry gathering in Santiago.

“We just produced just over 100,000 tons in the first quarter, but that’s going to the likes of Glencore, to ERG (Eurasian Resources Group) … so it’s local distribution,” she said, adding that annual acid output would reach 600,000 to 700,000 tons once its smelter was running at full capacity.

“The local market is more than sufficient for us to sell to,” she added, noting that restrictions on exporting sulphur from neighbouring Zambia had stopped DRC companies from making their own acid. “We’ve got a captive audience in terms of our distribution,” Cloete said.

Ivanhoe said in a statement on Monday the Kamoa-Kakula smelter had ramped up to 60% of capacity, with a further increase constrained by a lack of concentrate feed.

The company’s price for high-strength sulphuric acid was around $500 per ton in the first quarter, with spot prices generally increasing over the three months, Ivanhoe said.

(By Tom Daly; Editing by Rod Nickel)

 

Adani Power Limited enters nuclear segment as India opens sector

/ Mick Truyts - Unsplash

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By bno - Mumbai bureau February 20, 2026

India’s leading power company, Adani Power Limited (NSE: ADANIPOWER), has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Adani Atomic Energy Limited, marking its formal entry into the country’s nuclear power generation industry at a time when New Delhi has tweaked its nuclear energy policy framework to open the sector to the private sector.

According to a stock exchange filing by Mumbai-listed Adani Power, the new subsidiary was incorporated in India on February 11, 2026, after securing the certificate of incorporation from the Registrar of Companies. The new company will generate, transmit and distribute nuclear-based power. The move also indicates Adani Power’s desire to diversify beyond thermal and renewable assets.

Adani Atomic Energy Limited has been set up with authorised capital of INR0.5mn divided into 50,000 equity shares of INR10 each, fully subscribed in cash by the parent company, which retains 100% ownership.

Adani's decision aligns well with a broader transformation in the country’s nuclear policy landscape. The Government of India late last year introduced the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, aimed at modernising and consolidating the nation’s nuclear legal architecture while preparing the sector for large-scale expansion.

For decades, India’s nuclear energy sector operated under the framework dating back to the early years of the country’s atomic programme, with operations mainly in the hands of state-owned companies and under a highly controlled environment. While this ensured strategic oversight and safety, the framework hindered the speed at which nuclear capacity could grow to meet increasing energy demand and decarbonisation goals.

The SHANTI framework looks to address these constraints by creating a unified legislative structure that eases licensing, strengthens safety oversight and introduces clearer regulatory and liability mechanisms. A main feature of the new framework is the statutory recognition of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, strengthening its authority and institutional independence as nuclear capacity expands.

The most striking feature of the framework from the point of view of industry players is that the legislation allows controlled private participation in nuclear power generation and selected supply-chain activities. These include plant operations, component manufacturing and certain stages of nuclear fuel processing under strict regulatory supervision. However, strategically sensitive areas, such as enrichment, reprocessing, management of spent fuel and high-level waste, remain in the domain of the central government and its institutions.

The new law also introduces graded liability structures instead of a single liability cap, allowing liability limits to vary depending on the type and characteristics of nuclear installations. This endeavour is to balance investor confidence with public safety safeguards while making financing of nuclear projects much smoother, which invariably require long investment horizons and large capital deployment.

The Indian government sees nuclear power as highly strategic for India’s energy transition, especially as renewable energy sources such as solar and wind grow rapidly but need reliable round-the-clock backup generation. Nuclear power offers stable, low-carbon baseload electricity without the intermittency challenges associated with renewable sources, making it attractive for supporting energy-intensive sectors such as manufacturing, data centres and urban infrastructure.

Nuclear power at present contributes only a small fraction of overall electricity generation, though capacity enhancement plans are ambitious. Indigenous reactor programmes and international technology partnerships are likely to increase installed nuclear capacity over the next few years, while the government has also announced a long-term mission to increase nuclear energy capacity significantly by 2047 as part of the country’s clean energy strategy.

Within this evolving policy framework, Adani Power’s move signals growing private-sector interest in positioning for participation in future nuclear projects. The Adani Group has already become as one of India’s biggest privately-owned power generators across thermal and renewable energy. Its entry into the nuclear power space could provide long-term portfolio diversification while supporting national clean energy goals.

The incorporation of a dedicated nuclear subsidiary suggests that private energy companies are beginning to prepare for the next phase of India’s power sector evolution. As policy reforms under the SHANTI framework move forward and operational guidelines emerge, participation by large infrastructure players could accelerate development of domestic supply chains, advanced reactor technologies and long-term clean energy capacity.

India’s nuclear energy mission

According to data from the Department of Atomic Energy, India currently has 24 nuclear reactors across seven locations, with a combined installed capacity of 8.78 GW.

These plants are located in the western, northern and southern parts of the country. Most of the reactors are indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), supplemented by Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) and Russian-designed VVER reactors.

The Indian government in the Union Budget 2025-26 announced allocation of INR200bn to drive design, development and deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The target is to have at least five indigenously designed SMRs to be operational by 2033, strengthening India’s clean energy roadmap.

Some of the initiatives of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) include 200 MWe Bharat Small Modular Reactor (BSMR‑200), 55 Mwe (Megawatt electrical) SMR‑55, up to 5 MWth (Megawatt thermal) High‑temperature gas‑cooled reactor for hydrogen generation.

When it comes to strategic aim, the government wants to position India as a leader in advanced nuclear technologies while ensuring sustainable energy security with long term goals to achieve 100 GW by 2047. 

US tech giant Nvidia announces India deals at AI summit

By AFP
February 18, 2026


This week's AI Impact Summit is the fourth annual international gathering to discuss how to govern the fast-evolving technology. - © AFP Arun SANKAR

Katie Forster

US artificial intelligence chip titan Nvidia unveiled tie-ups with Indian computing firms on Wednesday as tech companies rushed to announce deals and investments at a global AI conference in New Delhi.

This week’s AI Impact Summit is the fourth annual gathering to discuss how to govern the fast-evolving technology — and also an opportunity to “define India’s leadership in the AI decade ahead”, organisers say.

Mumbai cloud and data centre provider L&T said it was teaming up with Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, to build what it touted as “India’s largest gigawatt-scale AI factory”.

“We are laying the foundation for world-class AI infrastructure that will power India’s growth,” said Nvidia boss Jensen Huang in a statement that did not put a figure on the investment.

L&T said it would use Nvidia’s powerful processors, which can train and run generative AI tech, to provide data centre capacity of up to 30 megawatts in Chennai and 40 megawatts in Mumbai.

Nvidia said it was also working with other Indian AI infrastructure players such as Yotta, which will deploy more than 20,000 top-end Nvidia Blackwell processors as part of a $2 billion investment.

Dozens of world leaders and ministerial delegations have come to India for the summit to discuss the opportunities and threats, from job losses to misinformation, that AI poses.

Last year India leapt to third place — overtaking South Korea and Japan — in an annual global ranking of AI competitiveness calculated by Stanford University researchers.

But despite plans for large-scale infrastructure and grand ambitions for innovation, experts say the country has a long way to go before it can rival the United States and China.

– Hyperscale –

The conference has also brought a flurry of deals, with IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw saying Tuesday that India expects more than $200 billion in investments over the next two years, including roughly $90 billion already committed.

Separately, India’s Adani Group said Tuesday it plans to invest $100 billion by 2035 to develop “hyperscale AI-ready data centres”, a boost to New Delhi’s push to become a global AI hub.

Microsoft said it was investing $50 billion this decade to boost AI adoption in developing countries, while US artificial intelligence startup Anthropic and Indian IT giant Infosys said they would work together to build AI agents for the telecoms industry.

Nvidia’s Huang is not attending the AI summit but other top US tech figures joining include OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are expected to deliver a statement at the end of the week about how they plan to address concerns raised by AI technology.

But experts say that the broad focus of the event and vague promises made at previous global AI summits in France, South Korea and Britain mean that concrete commitments are unlikely.

Nick Patience, practice lead for AI at tech research group Futurum, told AFP that nonbinding declarations could still “set the tone for what acceptable AI governance looks like”.

But “the largest AI companies deploy capabilities at a pace that makes 18-month legislative cycles look glacial,” Patience said.

“So it’s a case of whether governments can converge fast enough to create meaningful guardrails before de facto standards are set by the companies themselves.”

Uncut gems: Indian startups embrace AI despite job fears


By AFP
February 18, 2026


An Indian firm is using AI to design intricate brooches and other jewellery which are then handmade by artisans - Copyright AFP Arun SANKAR

Katie Forster and Uzmi Athar

Glinting under the exhibition centre lights, the gold brooch studded with gemstones on the startup founder’s lapel was handmade by Indian artisans — but artificial intelligence dreamt up its elaborate design.

The brooch, in the shape of Hindu deity Lord Krishna, is an emblem of both the fast-developing power of AI technology and hopes it will drive innovation in India’s youthful economy.

Siddharth Soni, 23, showed AFP a box of AI-designed jewellery, mostly in classical Indian style, made by the company Idea Jewellery which he co-founded in 2023.

“Jewellery like this used to take around six months, seven months” to manufacture using traditional methods, said Soni, at a global AI summit in New Delhi.

Now, using a 3D-printed mould based on an AI blueprint, and streamlining the process in other ways, “I can make this piece in one week” with a few more needed for hallmarking, he said.

Tech bosses and world leaders are gathered in the Indian capital this week to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by AI, including the threat of mass redundancies and loss of human expertise.

Soni’s startup is a new direction for his decades-old family jewellery manufacturing business in the city of Hyderabad.

He said his father was “excited” about the new venture and “wants to take it all over the world” so retailers in places like the United States can offer custom AI-designed Indian jewellery.

At the same time, his father and grandfather, both in the industry for around 30 years, are conflicted because they believe “artisans should not lose their imagination”, Soni said.

“We’re losing the form of art, basically, by using AI,” but even so, “we have to move forward.”



– ‘Very uncomfortable’ –



Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the AI summit “shows the capability of our country’s youth” as “further proof that our country is progressing rapidly” in technology.

India’s government is expecting $200 billion in AI investment in the next two years, with plans to build large-scale data centres and nuclear power plants to run them.

Idea Jewellery, which does not receive government support but would like to, is in talks with 20 retailers including well-known brands in major cities who are already clients of the long-running family business.

On a tool powered by a fine-tuned version of Google’s Gemini, customers can specify the type of metal, precious stones and price range of their jewellery, and describe their desired style with a simple text prompt.

The tool shows examples of the piece and can then produce a detailed 3D model to be turned by hand into real jewellery.

Some of the workers, who have spent years mastering their craft and usually spend weeks designing a piece of jewellery, are “very uncomfortable with it” and fear their jobs could eventually disappear, Soni admitted.

However they are still making the AI-designed pieces, “because it’s their livelihood”.



– New fields –



The AI boom has brought huge profits for tech giants and sprouted many startups worldwide, but the bubble could pop if the frenzied excitement loses momentum.

For now, governments and companies are bullish that AI innovation will benefit society, from helping teachers educate large populations to better personalising medical care.

Peush Bery’s startup, Xtreme Gen AI, sells a voice chat tool that can answer and make calls for Indian businesses in a dozen local languages.

It’s a competitive field, but the company hopes to carve out a niche by offering smaller businesses a customised tool that they don’t need technical know-how to implement.

Different accents and India’s noisy streets can make accuracy a challenge. But as the technology improves and becomes more affordable, it could threaten the country’s huge call centre industry.

Bery remains optimistic. “New jobs come up, new fields come up,” such as working with data to improve the AI models, he said.

Another startup, Soil Doctor, has offered AI-powered soil testing to 500 farms across 10 Indian states, working with NGOs to run programmes with rural women and youth.

The government could help the company by granting access to historical agricultural data that it currently does not have, said Soil Doctor’s chief of staff Vartika Gupta.

AI technology can “benefit farmers big time”, helping them save money by buying fertiliser better targeted to their soil type, Gupta said.

“Season after season, at a much lower input cost, they will be able to achieve an increased yield.”

India’s tougher AI social media rules spark censorship fears

By AFP
February 16, 2026


A man passes by a mural depicting various social media apps in Bangalore on March 22, 2018 - Copyright AFP/File Manjunath KIRAN

Parvaiz BUKHARI

India has tightened rules governing the use of artificial intelligence on social media to combat a flood of disinformation, but also prompting warnings of censorship and an erosion of digital freedoms.

The new regulations are set to take effect on February 20 — the final day of an international AI summit in New Delhi featuring leading global tech figures — and will sharply reduce the time platforms have to remove content deemed problematic.

With more than a billion internet users, India is grappling with AI-generated disinformation swamping social media.

Companies such as Instagram, Facebook and X will have three hours, down from 36, to comply with government takedown orders, in a bid to stop damaging posts from spreading rapidly.

Stricter regulation in the world’s most populous country ups the pressure on social media giants facing growing public anxiety and regulatory scrutiny globally over the misuse of AI, including the spread of misinformation and sexualised imagery of children.

But rights groups say tougher oversight of AI if applied too broadly risks eroding freedom of speech.

India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already faced accusations from rights groups of curbs on freedom of expression targeting activists and opponents, which his government denies.

The country has also slipped in global press freedom rankings during his tenure.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), a digital‑rights group, said the compressed timeframe of the social media take-down notices would force platforms to become “rapid-fire censors”.

– ‘Automated censorship’ –

Last year, India’s government launched an online portal called Sahyog — meaning “cooperate” in Hindi — to automate the process of sending takedown notices to platforms including X and Facebook.

The latest rules have been expanded to apply to content “created, generated, modified or altered through any computer resource” except material changed during routine or good‑faith editing.

Platforms must now clearly and permanently label synthetic or AI‑manipulated media with markings that cannot be removed or suppressed.

Under the new rules, problematic content could disappear almost immediately after a government notification.

The timelines are “so tight that meaningful human review becomes structurally impossible at scale”, said IFF chief Apar Gupta.

The system, he added, shifts control “decisively away from users”, with “grievance processes and appeals operate on slower clocks”, Gupta added.

Most internet users were not informed of authorities’ orders to delete their content.

“It is automated censorship,” digital rights activist Nikhil Pahwa told AFP.

The rules also require platforms to deploy automated tools to prevent the spread of illegal content, including forged documents and sexually abusive material.

“Unique identifiers are un-enforceable,” Pahwa added. “It’s impossible to do for infinite synthetic content being generated.”

Gupta likewise questioned the effectiveness of labels.

“Metadata is routinely stripped when content is edited, compressed, screen-recorded, or cross-posted,” he said. “Detection is error-prone.”

– ‘Online hate’ –

The US-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), in a report with the IFF, warned the laws “may encourage proactive monitoring of content which may lead to collateral censorship”, with platforms likely to err on the side of caution.

The regulations define synthetic data as information that “appears to be real” or is “likely to be perceived as indistinguishable from a natural person or real-world event.”

Gupta said the changes shift responsibility “upstream” from users to the platforms themselves.

“Users must declare if content is synthetic, and platforms must verify and label before publication,” said Gupta.

But he warned that the parameters for takedown are broad and open to interpretation.

“Satire, parody, and political commentary using realistic synthetic media can get swept in, especially under risk-averse enforcement,” Gupta said.

At the same time, widespread access to AI tools has “enabled a new wave of online hate “facilitated by photorealistic images, videos, and caricatures that reinforce and reproduce harmful stereotypes”, the CSOH report added.

In the most recent headline-grabbing case, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok sparked outrage in January when it was used to make millions of sexualised images of women and children, by allowing users to alter online images of real people.

“The government had to act because platforms are not behaving responsibly,” Pahwa said.

Junk to high-tech: India bets on e-waste for critical minerals


By AFP
February 17, 2026


Workers dismantle discarded monitors at 'Ecowork', an e-waste recycling facility in Ghaziabad, India - Copyright AFP Punit PARANJPE

Arunabh SAIKIA and Uzmi ATHAR

Hundreds of discarded batteries rattle along a conveyor belt into a crusher in a remote plant in northern India, fuelling a multi-billion-dollar industry that is bolstering the country’s geopolitical ambitions.

India is cashing in on the growing “e-waste” sector — pulling critical minerals like lithium and cobalt, which are needed to make everything from smartphones to fighter jets and electric cars, from everyday electronics.

Global jitters about China’s dominance as a critical minerals producer has kicked New Delhi into action, ramping up extraction of the materials that are essential for its drive to become an artificial intelligence hub.

With demand expected to soar and domestic mining unlikely to deliver meaningful output for at least a decade, the country is turning to an often‑overlooked source — the swelling mountains of electronic waste.

Dead batteries yield lithium, cobalt and nickel; LED screens contain germanium; circuit boards hold platinum and palladium; hard disks store rare earths — e‑waste has long been described as a “gold mine” for critical minerals.

India generated nearly 1.5 million tonnes of e‑waste last year, according to official data — enough to fill 200,000 garbage trucks — though experts believe the real figure is likely to be twice as much.

At Exigo Recycling’s sprawling plant in Haryana state, a machine churns the batteries from e-scooters into a jet-black powder.

The material is then leached into a wine‑red liquid, filtered, evaporated and finally transformed into a fine white powder — lithium.

“White gold,” said the facility’s lead scientist, watching the final product collect in trays.



– Backyard workshops –



Industry estimates suggest “urban mining” — the recovery of minerals from e‑waste — could be worth up to $6 billion annually.

While insufficient to meet India’s projected demand, analysts say it could help absorb import shocks and strengthen supply chains.

Most e‑waste, however, is still dismantled in informal backyard workshops that extract easily saleable metals such as copper and aluminium, leaving critical minerals untapped.

India’s formal recycling capacity remains limited compared to China and the European Union, both of which have invested heavily in advanced recovery technologies and traceability systems.

India has a “100 percent import dependency” for key critical minerals including lithium, cobalt and nickel, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Seeking to close the gap, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government approved a $170‑million programme last year to boost formal recycling of critical minerals.

The programme builds on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules, which require manufacturers to collect and channel e‑waste to government-registered recyclers.

“EPR has acted as a primary catalyst in terms of bringing scale to the recycling industry,” said Raman Singh, managing director at Exigo Recycling, one of the few Indian facilities able to extract lithium.

Other analysts agree the rules have redirected more waste into the formal sector.

“Before EPR was fully implemented, 99 percent of e-waste was being recycled in the informal sector,” said Nitin Gupta of Attero Recycling, which says it can recover at least 22 critical minerals.

“About 60 percent has now moved to formal.”

Government data suggests an even higher shift, though critics say the figures are inflated due to poor tracking of total e‑waste generation.

More than 80 percent of India’s e-waste is still processed informally, according to a United Nations Development Programme note in October.



– Rife with hazards –



Indian government-backed think‑tank NITI Aayog warned that organised recycling lagged behind both policy targets and the rapid growth in waste volumes.

Informal recycling is rife with hazards — open burning, acid baths and unprotected dismantling expose workers to toxic fumes and contaminate soil and water.

A bulk of India’s e‑waste still flowed through informal channels, leading to “loss of critical minerals”, said Sandip Chatterjee, senior adviser at Sustainable Electronics Recycling International.

“India’s informal sector remains the backbone of waste collection and sorting,” he told AFP.

In Seelampuri, a low‑income Delhi neighbourhood home to one of India’s largest informal e‑waste hubs, narrow alleys spill over with tangled cables and broken devices.

“The new companies just keep enough for certification, but the rest still comes to us,” said Shabbir Khan, a local trader. “Business has increased… not gone down.”

Even the junk that eventually reaches formal recyclers often passes through informal hands first, Chatterjee said.

“Integrating informal actors into traceable supply chains could substantially reduce” loss of valuable critical minerals at the sorting and dismantling stages, he said.

Ecowork, India’s only authorised non‑profit e‑waste recycler, is attempting that through training and safe workspaces.

“Our training covers dismantling and the (full) process for informal workers,” said operations manager Devesh Tiwari.

“We tell them about the hazards, the valuable critical minerals, and how they can do it the right way so the material’s value doesn’t drop.”

At its facility on the outskirts of Delhi, Rizwan Saifi expertly dismantled a discarded hard drive, slicing out a permanent magnet destined for an advanced recycler, where it will be shredded to recover dysprosium — a rare‑earth metal essential to modern electronics.

“Earlier all we would care about was copper and aluminium because that is what was high-value in the scrap market,” Saifi, 20, said.

“But now we know how valuable this magnet is.”

India’s solar-panel boom: full throttle today, uncertain tomorrow


By AFP
January 24, 2026


India, driven by soaring electricity demand is rapidly producing solar panels, fuelling a booming yet uncertain market - Copyright AFP Shammi MEHRA
Philippe ALFROY

The race for green energy is on. India, driven by soaring electricity demand and a push to reduce reliance on China, is rapidly producing solar panels, fuelling a booming yet uncertain market.

At the Adani Group’s factory in Mundra, in India’s western state of Gujarat, assembly lines churn out photovoltaic panels around the clock.

Up to 10,000 a day come off the line, with most sent straight to Khavda, further north, where the Indian conglomerate is finishing what will be the world’s largest solar park.

But Adani Solar’s CEO, Muralee Krishnan, says operations are “actually lagging”.

“Our capacity needs to be fully used — we should work 48 hours a day.”

The intensity is matched by other major producers in the world’s most populous nation.

At the Tata conglomerate factory in Tirunelveli, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, 4,000 mostly women employees also work non-stop shifts.

“They operate 24/7, so you get better yield, better efficiency, better productivity,” said Praveer Sinha, CEO of Tata Power.

“You cannot stop the production line… there is a rush to produce to maximise the output.”

With the twin imperatives of development and lower carbon emissions, India has set itself ambitious renewable energy targets.

Last year, it said half its electricity-generation capacity was now “green”, five years ahead of the timeline set in the Paris Agreement on lowering emissions.

But 75 percent of electricity is still generated by coal-fired power plants, with inflexible operations and long-term coal power purchase agreements hampering renewable uptake.



– ‘Make in India’ –



There are signs of change.

Last year, coal-fired power generation fell three percent, only the second full-year drop recorded in half a decade, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Renewable capacity of 230 gigawatts (GW) is set to rise to 500 GW by 2030, including 280 GW of solar.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has placed another constraint on the industry: “Make in India.”

That means there is no question of importing solar panels from China, which supplies 90 percent of the world’s market.

All public tenders require “local” production, which India supports with substantial subsidies that have attracted big businesses.

Tata, a pioneer in solar panels since the 1990s, has been joined by Adani and Reliance, which have built state-of-the-art, highly automated factories.

“The quality of the product is very, very critical,” said Ashish Khanna, CEO Adani Green Energy.

“When you are building a project of this size, you also need to be very reassured of the supply chain. We cannot have a disruption or interruption in that particular process.”

But for now, the technology and raw materials still come from China.

And Beijing has complained to the World Trade Organization over the subsidies and restrictions on its solar panels.

The solar push is so intense that Adani is considering silicon mining to secure a key raw material, company insiders say, and there are suggestions Tata Power is eyeing in-house silicon-wafer production.



– ‘A huge market’ –



Growth in the sector is already staggering, with solar manufacturing capacity expected to soon exceed 125 GW, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie said.

But that is triple current domestic demand, according to Wood Mackenzie analyst Yana Hryshko.

Government incentives have “been highly effective in spurring factory announcements, but the industry is now seeing warning signs of rapid overcapacity”, Hryshko said in a report last year.

The sector’s long-term sustainability may therefore depend on exports, with some companies already targeting global markets.

“Solar is a huge market: the world will see it doubling, from 2,000 GW to 4,000 GW in four years,” said Ashish Khanna, head of the International Solar Alliance.

“The question is now — will Indian manufacturers be globally competitive compared to China?”

Tejpreet Chopra, from the private power company Bharat Light and Power, points out that “the problem is that it’s cheaper to import from China than to buy local”.

And the level of manufacturing in China “is so much higher that it’s very difficult to match”, he added.

The sector also faces “geopolitical” headwinds from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, with Chopra adding that they make it “very difficult to sell to the United States”.

Despite these challenges, the head of Tata Power, which does not yet export, remains convinced his business has a bright future.

“We strongly believe,” said Praveer Sinha, “that solar will play a very important role in the renewable space of India.”
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Adani’s Mannar Wind Project In Sri Lanka: Is The Opposition Unmasked At Last? – Analysis

January 19, 2026 
By A. Jathindra


Development-related environmental debates in Sri Lanka rarely stay rooted in ecology—they are almost always colored by politics. The abandoned Adani wind power project in Mannar is a striking example.

Not long ago, selective Colombo-based “environmentalists” thundered against the Indian conglomerate, branding its plans as ecological disasters. Yet today, as a near-identical project advances under a local company, those same voices have fallen conspicuously silent. Was their outrage truly about protecting the environment—or was it stirred by a hidden geopolitical hand?

Recent reports indicate that 28 Pakistani nationals and two Chinese nationals engaged in Mannar’s wind project have departed following the completion of turbine installation. It has also been noted that two Pakistani workers, while venturing into the sea, were subsequently intercepted by Sri Lankan security forces. One might reasonably reflect—had the Adani project proceeded as originally envisioned, such circumstances may well have been avoided.

Viewed in this light, the opposition to Adani’s initiative appears less an expression of ecological concern and more a matter shaped by broader political considerations.

On January 15, 2025, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake inaugurated the construction of a 50megawatt wind farm in Mannar, developed by Hayleys Fentons Limited. Scheduled for completion in March 2027, the project is part of the government’s pledge to achieve netzero carbon emissions by 2050.

Mannar has long been recognized as one of Sri Lanka’s most promising renewable energy hubs. It was this very potential that drew Adani Green Energy, which proposed a 250 MW wind power project in the region. Yet, shortsighted local opposition forced the plan’s abandonment.

The Adani Group and India suffered no loss. But for Sri Lanka, it was the loss of a significant opportunity to harness clean energy and strengthen its power grid. The episode underscores a troubling pattern: environmental concerns seem to erupt most fiercely only when the projects carry an Indian nameplate.

At the time, Adani’s investment represented the first major foreign capital inflow since Sri Lanka’s bankruptcy during its historic economic crisis. Had it gone ahead, the project would have spurred development in the Northern Province. In January 2023, the Board of Investment approved a $422 million plan for Mannar and Pooneryn, expected to generate 484 MW of electricity—one of the largest green energy projects in the country.

However, the Mannar project faced a fundamental rights petition filed by Bishop Emmanuel Fernando and three environmentalists, who questioned the credibility of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and warned of potential financial losses. Yet the EIA—covering bird and bat studies—was conducted by the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority under the leadership of Professor Devaka Weerakoon of the University of Colombo. Despite this, the environmentalists sought to discredit the findings, claiming the wind farm would become a “death trap” for migratory birds.

Globally, however, countries have adopted mitigation strategies. India’s 1,500 MW Muppandal Wind Farm—close to Sri Lanka—operates despite similar concerns. In Norway, researchers found that painting one rotor blade black reduced bird mortality by 70 percent. Studies in the U.S. estimate wind turbines kill between 140,000 and 679,000 birds annually—a tiny fraction compared to the billions killed by buildings or domestic cats. Fossil fuel projects are far deadlier, with 5.18 birds killed per gigawatthour of electricity compared to just 0.269 for wind.

Yet Colombobased environmental groups opposing Adani never highlighted these facts or proposed alternatives. Instead, they misled local communities, with religious leaders echoing flawed guidance. This begs the question: will the 50 MW projects now underway not harm birds? Will migratory species be spared?

The silence following Adani’s withdrawal suggests the protests were less about ecology and more about politics—specifically, blocking Indian investment. Meanwhile, far more environmentally damaging projects, such as the Chineseowned power plant in Nurisolai, escape scrutiny. This selective activism illustrates how environmental concerns in Sri Lanka have been politicized.

Wind power projects worldwide have not been abandoned because of bird deaths. Instead, governments and companies have introduced strategies to mitigate harm. Norway’s experiments with rotor blade painting, UV lighting, and micrositing of turbines show that innovation can reduce risks. Tamil Nadu, with its forwardlooking approach, is positioned to attract €72 billion in offshore wind investment by 2030. Sri Lanka could have shared in this momentum, but the Mannar opportunity was lost to politicized environmental activism.

The broader truth is that every development project carries an environmental cost. Countries that have successfully implemented wind farms have accepted this reality, balancing ecological concerns with the urgent need for clean energy. Sri Lanka’s activists, however, seem to apply their scrutiny selectively. When Indian projects are proposed, opposition is fierce; when Chinese projects advance, silence prevails.

This inconsistency undermines the credibility of environmental advocacy. If the true goal is sustainability, then all projects—regardless of origin—should be judged by the same standards. Otherwise, Sri Lanka risks allowing political agendas to derail its path to renewable energy.

The Mannar case is a cautionary tale. By blocking Adani’s project, Sri Lanka lost not only foreign investment but also a chance to accelerate its transition to clean energy. The government’s target of 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and netzero emissions by 2050 will remain a distant dream if antidevelopment narratives dominate.

The question remains: was the opposition to Adani’s project truly about protecting birds, or was it about preventing Indian investment in Mannar? The disappearance of protesters after the project’s cancellation suggests the latter. Meanwhile, the new 50 MW project will inevitably face similar ecological challenges. Will migratory birds be spared this time, or will silence prevail because the developer is local?

The Mannar wind farm controversy is not merely about turbines and birds. It is about Sri Lanka’s future—whether the nation will embrace renewable energy with pragmatism, or remain entangled in politicized debates that stall progress. If selective activism continues to dominate, the aspiration of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 risks becoming symbolic rather than substantive.

A. Jathindra is the head of the think tank Trinco Centre for Strategic Studies (TSST) and a Sri Lankan-based independent political analyst.