Expansion of Malanjkhand Copper project Mine from 2 Mta open cast to 5 Mta underground mine
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the investment proposal of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) for Rs 1856.36 crore to develop an underground copper ore mine of 5 million tonne per annum capacity at Malanjkhand Copper Project (MCP), Madhya Pradesh. The fund required for the project will be met by HCL and no budgetary support will be taken from Government of India.
MCP has rich extractable copper reserves of 141 million tonne, which is more than 70% of the known reserves in the country. MCP is currently mining 2 million tonnes 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 7 years till March 2018. Below this depth the open cast mining is not financially viable as cost of ore production shall be more than underground mine. The project with an investment of 1856.36 crores seeks to develop an underground mine under the existing open cast mine. 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.
Successful implementation of the project will also reduce country`s dependence on imported copper concentrate.
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