KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – India’s sole integrated copper producer, Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), will invest $472-million in a new greenfield copper cathode plant, in the central Indian province of Chhattisgarh.

The investment proposal has been submitted to the Mines Ministry and the Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs (CCEA), the apex federal government body, for approval, HCL chairman K D Diwan said this week.

The proposed 100 000 t/y copper cathode plant will adopt the cost effective hydro-metallurgy technology.

Focusing on HCL’s prime copper mining projects, Diwan said that the company was developing the Malanjkhand copper deposit in the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh, which boasts copper ore production capacity of  500 000 t/y, with first production scheduled for next year.

During the current financial year, in line with the copper refiner’s waste management system, HCL will build a facility to extract minerals and materials from copper ore tails (COT) from waste generated by beneficiation at its Malanjkhand mines. The COT plant would have a capacity of 3.3-million tons a year.

On the company’s physical performance during the 2016/17 financial year, Diwan said that the company achieved total sales of 28 888 t, compared with 24 112 t in 2015/16, registering 20% growth. Copper production was recorded at 3.845-million tons, compared with 3.908-million tons in 2015/16, with the fall attributed to the planned shutdown of crushers at the mines.

Elaborating on global markets, Diwan said that world copper demand last year was estimated at 23.45-million tons, with China being the largest consumer, accounting for about half of global consumption. He said that world refined copper usage was expected to rise by around 2% during the current and next fiscal years.

“[In the domestic market,] demand for refined copper, which included copper cathode and wire rod, was estimated at 665 000 t and domestic copper consumption was expected to rise in range of 6% to 7%, with demand from the power and construction sector continuing to be key drivers of the local market,” he said.