NEW DELHI: The governments nod to Hindustan Copper to raise Rs 900 crore will help the company in implementing its mine expansion plans, its chairman and manging director Santosh Sharma said.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved fresh equity issue of 15 per cent by Hindustan Copperto help it raise Rs 900.6 crore.
Hindustan Copper (HCL) will issue 13.87 crore fresh equity shares which will bring down government stake in the PSU to 66.13 per cent.HCL is the only company in India engaged in mining of copper ore, beneficiation, smelting, refining and downstream products.
The company owns all the copper mines in the country and meets 4 per cent of the countrys copper requirement.HCL aims at enhancing its capacity six times from its present production capacity to 20 million tonne per at an investment of is Rs 5,500 crore over next 6 years.
It also proposes to spend another Rs 175 crore for exploration activities spread over three years.This will lead to increasing the availability of copper raw material from current 4 per cent to 30 per cent of the countrys demand.
Increasing the mining capacity of HCL is essential to reduce dependence on import by 25 per cent of copper mineral by the country, Sharma said.The proposed expansion plan will create employment opportunities for about 9,300 persons, he said.
HCL expansion projects are located in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand.HCL will use the proceeds of QIP to meet its expansion/capex plan.
There is no budgetary support for the expansion plan, Sharma said.