Jharkhand mine: no immediate relief for Hindustan Copper

Hindustan Copper Ltd will not be able to resume operations immediately at its Surda mine in Jharkahand that has been shut by the State Government.

The Central public sector enterprise, which had moved the High Court in Ranchi seeking a year’s stay on the State Government’s order, has been asked by the court to obtain environmental clearance first.

Jharkhand had stopped operations at Surda from September 5 after the mine’s lease agreement expired on June 15 this year.

The court has asked the State Government to renew the lease agreement within a fortnight of receiving environmental clearance.

The court also confirmed that the existing forest clearance would remain valid until 2018, subject to the environmental clearance.

According to sources, the company had already initiated the process for obtaining environmental clearance.

However, it might take months to complete the procedures and actually obtain the clearance.

Hind Copper had applied for renewal of the lease agreement in 2013.

However, the State Government did not take any decision, and the agreement got expired in June.

For the company, which had planned to increase the depth of the Surda mine and raise production capacity from the current 0.4 million tonnes a year to 0.9 mt,, the continued work stoppage could be bad in many ways.

Meanwhile, India Resources Ltd (IRL), an Australian company that was operating the Surda mine for Hind Copper, has claimed compensation for running rudimentary and maintenance services till the reopening of the mine.

IRL has already placed around 75 per cent of the 1,500 mineworkers on no-work-no-pay condition since September.

A workers’ union has been objecting to this situation.

COMMENT NOW