The company has already invested about US$400 million in the country through the first phase of the Gamsberg project and nearly $4 billion in Africa overall.

Vedanta has been involved in South African mining since 2011 when it acquired the Gamsberg project from Anglo American. The mine started producing finished zinc concentrate late last year, with the second and third phases still to come.

The company is currently undertaking feasibility study to build a greenfield smelter and refinery at Gamsberg, with construction expected to cost $800 million, if found to be feasible.

Vedanta Resources executive chairman Anil Agarwal and CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan along and Vedanta Zinc International CEO Deshnee Naidoo were part of the high-level business delegation accompanying South African president Cyril Ramaphosa to India.

Speaking at the India-South Africa Business Forum in New Delhi, Agarwal said he wished to replicate South Africa's mining culture in India.

"South Africa has global mining experts and India needs their knowledge. India has a technology culture, which I want to inculcate in South Africa, where we are developing one the most digitally advanced mines in the world," he said.

"Looking forward, we must accelerate South Africa as a mining investment destination," Agarwal added.

Vedanta said it was confident that Ramaphosa's visit would result in "mutually beneficial investment - financial, human, technological and industrial - and a deepening of the existing ties between South Africa and India".