The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Friday approved Hindustan Copper Ltd’s proposal to expand its mine capacity at Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh.
Hindustan Copper proposes to invest Rs 1,856.36 crore to develop an underground copper mine of 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity at Malanjkhand Copper Project. HCL currently produces 2 mtpa of copper ore through the open cast mine at Malanjkhand project.
The fund required for the project will be met by the company and no budgetary support will be taken from Government, a statement said.
The Malanjkhand Copper Project has extractable copper reserves of 141 million tonnes, which is more than 70 per cent of the known reserves in the country.
The depth of open cast mines has reached 340 metres and the residual life is estimated at less than seven years till March 2018.
Below this depth, the open cast mining is not financially viable as cost of ore production shall be more than that of an underground mine. The project with an investment of Rs 1,856.36 crore seeks to develop an underground mine under the existing open cast mine.
The project will be executed by an engineering, procurement and construction contractor and is expected to take five years for completion. After completion of the project, MCP will be the biggest underground mine in the country.