The Moubhandar-based Indian Copper Complex, a unit of Hindustan Copper Limited. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

Jamshedpur, Sept. 7: As many as 600 employees of Ghatshila’s best known copper plant are crying out for change, hoping Prime Narendra Modi’s “achche din” promise will rub off on their future.

A letter written by Jharkhand Copper Mazdoor Union (JCMU), the recognised employees’ union of Indian Copper Complex (ICC), requests the Centre to allow them to ramp up production by re-opening the Musabani group of mines, shut down 15 years ago when prices of the metal nose-dived and ended glory days of the HCL (Hindustan Copper Limited) unit.

“Our priority is to ensure re-opening of the Musabani group of mines which are lying closed for about 15 years after copper rates took a nosedive in the international market,” said Debi Prasad Mukherjee, the general secretary of the union, who authored the letter in the last week of August and sent it to Union minister for steel, mines, labour and employment Narendra Singh Tomar with copies to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Hemant Soren.

“Now with prices picking up, HCL sees a good opportunity to resume mining in the region. In the letter, we have demanded that the Union minister ensure early re-opening of Kendadih, Pathergora and Rakha mines. This will help generate employment opportunities as well as improve the economy of the region,” he told The Telegraph.

HCL closed down six copper mines under ICC in Ghatshila in a phased manner early in 2000 due to cost viability issues. As of now, the only operational mine is Surda that supplies copper concentrate to the ICC unit at Moubhandar in Ghatshila.

In his letter, Mukherjee has suggested increasing ICC’s production capacity from the present 20,000MT to 50,000MT in view of the competition in the market.

Citing examples of Starlite and Birla Copper, which produces 1 lakhMT and 1.50 lakhMT of copper annually respectively, the union leader said that when these two companies could produce so much without having own mines, why couldn’t HCL.

The letter also highlighted power problems faced by the plant. Power was supplied by Jharkhand Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (JUVNL), but its erratic nature often disrupted production schedules.

“The existing power plant is pretty old. It can generate around 1.2 MW which is insufficient to meet the requirements when there’s a power cut,” said Mukherjee.

Among the other measures suggested by him was re-opening the precious metal recovery plant which has been lying defunct for a decade due to non-supply of gold slime from the now closed Khetri Copper Complex in Rajasthan.

Mukherjee also called for reviving the research and development facility at ICC.

Sources said a delegation led by JMM patriarch and former Union mines minister Shibu Soren — he is president of the copper union — was likely to meet the Union steel and mines minister to pursue the matter.

Statistics available with the company revealed that in 1975 the PSU giant employed 12,000 workers at its mines. The number has now come down to 900, while the employee strength at the ICC plant has come down to 575 from 2,400.