July 2, 2012

 

 

About INR2,016 crore (US$363 million) will be invested by Hindustan Zinc at its Rampura Agucha and Sindesar Khurd (SK) zinc mines in Rajasthan to improve mining operations.

 

The contracts have been awarded to South Africa-based Shaft Sinkers and two Chinese companies NFC (China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering & Construction Co Ltd) and CCN5C (China Coal 5 Construction Co Ltd).

 

Akhilesh Joshi, Chief Executive Officer, Hindustan Zinc, said the money required for the project will be funded through internal accruals.

 

The Vedanta Group company had cash and cash equivalents of about INR18,000 crore (US$3.2 billion) as of March 31, 2012. The projects are scheduled to be completed in 2017. Mining at Rampura Agucha is being done from the open pit. This can be in operation till 372 metres below the surface.

 

But the mineral reserves and resources below the open pit operating level are to be extracted by suitable underground mining methods, explained a company spokesperson. The company zeroed in on a vertical hoisting shaft with crushing system after a detailed haulage assessment.

 

It was found that this method would be most economical to handle underground ore. The hoisting shaft will also act as a ventilation intake to bring fresh air to the mine production area, he said.

 

The shaft will reach a depth of 950 metres and will be 7.5 metres in width. There will be two silos — one for storing ore and one for waste rock. The world's largest zinc producing mine, in Rampura Agucha, has proven reserves 110.4 million tonnes. About 6.15 million tonnes per annum of ore is currently extracted from the mine.

 

Mining at the silver content-rich SK mine has gone up from 0.3 million tonnes per annum to two million tonnes per annum in last six years. It has reserve of 81.3 million tonnes. The shaft at this mine will be 7.5 metre wide and about 1,050 metres deep.

 

NFC has been awarded the US$111-million contract which includes engineering contract of US$5 million for five years. The company produced 240 tonnes of silver in fiscal year 2012. The country's largest silver producer, Hindustan Zinc hopes to rank among top 10 silver producers when its output increases to 500 tonnes by fiscal year 2014.

 

It has set up a silver refinery of 518 tonnes per annum to process the silver extracted from this mine.