Vedanta – The Skorpion Mine & Smelter

Author: Viceroy Research Published on: August 11, 2025 Published in: Vedanta (NSE:VEDL)

August 11, 2025 – Vedanta Limited’s (VEDL) international zinc portfolio is in crisis, with its two flagship operations: Skorpion Mine and Smelter (Skorpion Complex) in Namibia and Black Mountain Mine (BMM) in South Africa facing massive problems, both physically and financially.

Late last month, Viceroy sent a team to Southern Africa to validate our theory that these assets are worthless or significantly impaired. These will be the subject of our reports this week.

Viceroy’s visit to the Skorpion Complex confirms it as a textbook case of asset decay. The site has remained inoperative since 2020, when slope failures halted operations.
Interviews with residents of the local town and employees of the mine, supported by site visits and drone footage, show the site has been abandoned. VEDL has made no investment into the heavily promoted “smelter conversion” or “mine expansion” projects.
While the Skorpion Complex itself is held on-book at a nominal $70m valuation, it supports a >$1b valuation of Skorpion’s sister mine: Black Mountain/Gamsberg.
Zinc International’s worthless assets are encumbered, and loans are secured against VEDL’s stake in Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL).
The Skorpion Mine must be rehabilitated, this has not been provisioned. The Skorpion Complex is not an asset, it is an unquantified liability.

Viceroy’s visit to Skorpion enforces our belief that the asset is completely worthless. Management’s plans to re-start the mine and convert the smelter are pure fiction. Zinc International’s assets are severely overstated, and debt is cross guaranteed across other VEDL assets.

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