Hindustan Zinc plans to invest about INR 2,016 crore to improve mining operations at its Rampura Agucha and Sindesar Khurd zinc mines in Rajasthan.
The contracts have been awarded to South Africa based Shaft Sinkers and two Chinese companies NFC (China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering & Construction Company Limited and CCN5C (China Coal 5 Construction Company Limited).
Mr Akhilesh Joshi CEO of Hindustan Zinc said that the money required for the project will be funded through internal accruals. The Vedanta Group company had cash and cash equivalents of about INR 18,000 crore as of March 31st 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 meters 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.
Mr Joshi said that 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.
The shaft will reach a depth of 950 meters and will be 7.5 meters 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 tonne 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 tonne per annum to 2 million tonne per annum in last 6 years. It has reserve of 81.3 million tonne. The shaft at this mine will be 7.5 meter wide and about 1050 meters deep.
NFC has been awarded the USD 111 million contract which includes engineering contract of USD 5 million for 5 years. The company produced 240 tonnes of silver in FY 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 FY 2014. It has set up a silver refinery of 518 tonnes per annum to process the silver extracted from this mine.
Source - The Hindu Businessline.com
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