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India copper imports surge

28th September 2018

By: Ajoy K Das

Creamer Media Correspondent

     

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KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – Almost a third of India’s domestic demand for copper is being met through imports with local copper refiners facing a challenge to meet this cheaper inflow of the base metal into the country.

“There has been a surge in copper imports particularly from countries that have signed free trade agreements with India,” Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) chairperson and CEO Santosh Sharma said.

“Indian imports of refined copper increased from levels of around 65 000 t in 2010/11 to 250 000 t in 2017/18, almost one third of domestic demand,” he said.

Indian demand for refined copper was expected to grow 6% to 7% in the current financial year, the CEO of the State-run HCL and sole integrated domestic copper producer in the country, said.

Indian refined copper production during 2017/18 was estimated at 843 000 t, compared with 798 000 t in the previous financial year, with consumption during 2017/18 pegged at about 660 000 t.

According to Sharma, Indian copper demand will primarily be driven by government spending on providing affordable housing, rural electrification, electrification of rail lines by State-run railways and infrastructure projects.

Dwelling on the operations of HCL, he said that the company had already spent an estimated $764-million in expanding its copper mines by which the miner had been able to increase copper ore production to 20-million tons a year, from levels of about 12.4-million tons a year five years ago.

Over the next five years, HCL had set a target of increasing production from its mines six folds, Sharma added.

HCL, which has completed almost 50% of work in development of its prime Malanjkhand copper mines in the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh is expected to commece production in the next fiscal year which would add about 500 000 t/y of production to the company’s total ore production.

The miner was also working on development of a mine at Ghatsila, in the eastern state of West Bengal, which would have the potential to add 1.5-million tons of copper ore production to the company’s kitty.

The miner has also undertaken exploration projects for new copper reserves across the country, earmarking $27-million to be spent over the next three years, targeting total drilling activity of 130 000 m during this period, Sharma added.

 

Edited by Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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