Nod for Hind Copper's Rs 1,856 cr project in MP

The government today approved Hindustan Copper's proposal to develop an underground copper ore mine at Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh with Rs 1,856 crore investment.

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs [CCEA] has approved the investment proposal of Hindustan Copper for Rs 1,856.36 crore to develop an underground copper ore mine of five million tonne per annum capacity," an official statement said today.

The fund required for the project would be met by Hindustan Copper and no budgetary support would be taken from the government, the statement said. The project has 141 million tonne extractable copper reserves, which is more than 70% of the known reserves in the country, it added.

"Malanjkhand Copper Project is mining 2 million tonne per annum of copper ore through open cast method. The depth of open cast mines has reached 340 meters and the residual life is less than seven years till March 2018," the statement said.

Below this depth, the open cast mining is not financially viable as cost of ore production shall be more than underground mine, it added.

"The project will be executed by Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor and is expected to take five years for completion. After completion of the project, Malanjkhand will be the biggest underground mine in the country," it said.

Successful implementation of the project will also reduce country's dependence on imported copper concentrate.