Technology Driving Quest For Copper

Hindustan Copper is in the midst of a massive expansion drive to boost production

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Technology driving quest for copper Hindustan Copper is in the midst of a massive expansion drive to boost production

WE are on the threshold of a massive expansion plan. We will increase our existing mining capacity from 4 million tonnes per annum to 20.2 million tonnes within five years, and pursue fresh leases for greenfield exploration within India.

In two years, we completed expansion projects in Rajasthan and Jharkhand with a combined capacity of 800,000 tonnes. When the five-year expansion drive is complete, seven million tonnes of ore will come from the Jharkhand belt, five million tonnes from Khetri, and another eight million from Malanjkhand.

With these projects, the availability of copper will increase from current 5% to 30% of India’s annual demand. Consequently, imports will decline by 25%. The expansion will enable us to employ 9,500 more people. It will help the company to remain profitable even if prices at the London Metal Exchange witness sharp falls.

In addition, we will produce additional value-added minerals through innovative means. For example, we are looking at several waste to-wealth projects. We produce mining waste in the form of tailings. This happens after we take out the concentrate. Only 1% copper is present in the ore, which is called metal-in-concentrate. We convert this concentrate into powder with 25% copper. The remaining 99% of the ore is waste or tailings, which contain precious metals like gold and silver.