Kolkata | November 7, 2017: State-owned Hindustan Copper is looking to develop its Chapri-Siddeshwar mines in Jharkhand.

According to Santosh Sharma, CMD, the company is in the process of coming out with a tender for the selection of Mining Development Operator (MDO) for developing the mines. This apart, the company is also looking to reopen the Rakha mine.

“We are in the process of preparing tenders for appointing MDO for reopening of the Rakha mine and developing the new Chapri-Siddeshwar mines. Between these mines, we can extract close to three million tonnes of ore per annum,” Sharma said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

The company plans to invest close to ₹5,000 crore in the next three-four years to scale up its capacities in mining and manufacturing. HCL has an installed copper production capacity of 68,500 tonnes per annum.

Post expansion, its mining capacity is expected at 13 million tonnes per annum from the present capacity of 3.4 mtpa. Metal production, which currently stands at 35,000 tonnes will go up to 1,20,000 tonnes by 2022, he said.

It plans to set up a plant of 1 lakh tonnes per annum capacity to manufacture copper cathode through cost-effective hydro-metallurgy technology at an estimated investment of ₹3,025 crore.

In a notice to the stock exchange on Tuesday, HCL informed that its board, which is set to meet on November 10, will consider the proposal to increase the borrowing limits from consortium banks.

(Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/)