The groundbreaking ceremony at Ghatsila Unit of HCL took place on 02 February for development of two new mines (Chapri- Sidheswar) and reopening of Rakha mine projects. Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das was the Chief Guest of the event. Bidyut Baran Mahato (LS MP from Jamshedpur), and Lakshman Tudu (Ghatsila MLA) were the Guests of Honour.

 

Hindustan Copper Limited CMD Santosh Sharma presided over the event. S K Bhattacharya, Director (Mining) HCL and Dinesh Shaw, Vice President, Zila Parishad were also present on the occasion.

 

Addressing a large gathering, Raghubar Das congratulated the Management of HCL for initiating the action for development of Chapri-Sidheswar mine which is a new mine and initiating process for re-opening of Rakha mine which was closed in 2001.

 

Speaking on the occasion Jharkhand CM assured the HCL management to extend all possible support for its expansion plan.

 

HCL CMD acknowledged the pro-active role of Bidyut Baran Mahato who had taken the issues with Prime Minister and the state CM for early approval and clearances from the Government. Sharma informed that Chapri and Rakha project have combined production capacity of 50 lakh tonne with an investment of Rs 1000 crore and will be implemented with “Zero Mine Waste” Philosophy. He underlined that these projects would create direct job opportunities for around 8000 people of the area.

 

HCL, the only Copper mining Company in India, in its Unit located at Ghatsila has planned to implement total five mine expansion projects to increase the mine capacity form current 04 to 72 lakh tonne with total capital investment of Rs 1600 crore.  The project is expected to take five years for completion. Successful implementation of the project will also reduce country's dependence on imported copper concentrate.