Hindustan Copper, India’s largest miner of the ore, expects to sell off non-core assets including reserves of granite and copper ore tailings, that are expected to fetch the state-run company more than 3,000 crore over an extended period of 5 to 10 years.
The company is planning to increase its mine capacity to 12.4 million tonne by 2017 which will be done in phases to meet growing demand for the red metal which is used in the power, construction and automobile industries. Already, copper prices have been soaring due to tight supplies and constraints in copper mining, a weak dollar and potential exchange-traded fund flows into copper as an asset class.
Hindustan Copper has also applied for 20 prospecting leases in mining near its existing mines at Khetri and Malanjkhand. It has already received a prospecting lease at Baniwali ki Dhani. These are greenfield plans of Hindustan Copper and not part of the 12.4-million tonne expansion programme.
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