Jamshedpur, May 6: Public sector giant Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) is scheduled to start production from its Ghatshila based plant, with a workforce of nearly 1,000 people, from this week.
A decision to this effect was conveyed to the Jharkhand Copper Majdoor Union (JCMU) on May 4 by the management of the PSU.
The processing plant located at Maubhandar in Ghatshila sub-division of East Singhbhum district, about 40 km from here, had to be shut down for two months after the collapse of a blast furnace roof at its flush smelter plant.
The plant with targeted production of 50 tonne blister copper per day (each tonne is valued at Rs 3.5 lakh as per price fixed by London Metal Exchange) would be firing of its blast furnace tomorrow and full-fledged production would begin after two-three days of the firing process.
“We will have to get a nod from our head office in Calcutta after submitting reports about the blast furnace firing operation. We are confident of resuming production at the plant,” said plant spokesperson M.R Barik.
Functionaries of the union are naturally elated by the development. “This is a positive development as now the workers would start receiving incentive bonus to the tune of Rs 2,000 per month,” said union secretary D.P Mukherjee.
There are around 900 registered workers in the plant along with around 150 officials.
Mukherjee said that closure of the plant had poured cold water on the hopes of revival of the copper concentrate mines at Kendadih near Ghatshila. Presently, only one mine, Surda (also in Ghatshila), was operational.
Indian Resource Limited, a wing of an Australian mining major, has a long-term contract with HCL for operating the mine, which generates around 30 tonne copper concentrate per day, while the processing plant requires about 240 tonne of concentrate.
The rest of the concentrate is supplied from HCL units in Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh and Khetri in Rajasthan
HCL had seven copper mines in Ghatshila sub-division — Rakha, Surda, Musaboni, Badia, Banalopa, Pathergora and Kendadih. The company closed all of them, barring Surda, in phases due to the high cost of production.
