The Hindu Business Line : ‘Mining policy should ensure that ore deposits are economically liberated’

Chennai, July 7 With the Group of Ministers on Mining giving a go-ahead to the new mining policy on Friday, the issue of maximising the potential of India’s mine wealth has once again assumed prominence.

The Minister concerned, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, told newspersons recently that the Government wants foreign companies to participate in unlocking the true promise of the country’s mines, by bringing in much-needed expertise.

However, one should understand from a national perspective the economic trade-off between investment for opening up the mines and the revenue earned, says Dr Ranen Sen, who retired from Hindustan Copper Ltd as General Manager and is currently guest faculty at Presidency College, Kolkata.

Speaking to Business Line, he said that the mining policy should ensure that the ore deposits are economically liberated.

“That means investment can be from anywhere and by anyone (even from abroad). But the regulations must be properly prescribed.”

If the regulations are suitably evolved, monitoring and controlling the activities become much easier, he reasons.

“Our experience shows that the public sector can’t be controlled. The Ranigunge coalfield is an example. The Government can control the private sector much better. However, there must be a blanket ban raw material export – mined ore or concentrates.”

Deposits will have to be exploited with a systems approach, he added.

Such an approach would demand that the belt is holistically evaluated, and individual metallic/non-metallic deposit viewed with all other elements present.

“Only then can a mining strategy be evolved. A policy prescription thus formulated will inherently contain an implementation mode.”

According to Dr Sen, conservation is self-sustaining if the best technology is chosen. “Moreover, environmental controls must be a part of the policy – not the lackadaisical way it is done now.”

On the need to gain a clear understanding of the nature of several mines before opening them up for foreign participation, he said that only those firms with the right kind of expertise should be allowed to handle, for instance, a complex multi-metal deposit like the Singbhum non-ferrous belt.

“The Singbhum copper belt represents a multi-metal ore deposit, unlike Khetri or Malanjkhand, and it has been suggested that Hindustan Copper should decide on going for precious and rare metals as the primary involvement, and make copper a secondary or subsidiary product, depending on the price in the market.”

Stating that before signing an MoU it would be advisable to first conduct systematic sampling by internationally acclaimed experts, he said that this should be followed by chemical analyses covering the total mining project.

After inviting Monarch Gold, an Australian company, to run the Surda mine in Jharkhand, the Government is reportedly planning to invite foreign participation in the Chapri-Sidheswar mine.

According to Mr Sen, this mine has five million tonnes of oxidic copper reserve on top of the main sulphidic ore body.

“Since a different processing technology is involved, the reserve has to be taken out first to prevent any metal wastage. The money earned may be utilised for the main sulphidic ore body development.”

Bioleaching is the technology most suitable for the purpose and the copper-rich liquor may be quickly processed at RRL, Bhubaneswar before marketing the metal, he added.

Dr Sen also pointed out that the Chapri-Sidheswar deposits may contain gold associated with copper.

“This was confirmed by Mr Jorge, a Codelco geologist who visited India at Hindustan Copper’s invitation in the late 80s. He is a gold expert and has discovered many gold deposits in South America.”

Besides gold, there is a very high possibility of silver being found, he added.

“The other elements that may be present are cobalt, nickel, tellurium, selenium and rhenium, which are reported to occur associated with copper in the Mosaboni and Rakha mines respectively.”

He informed that as one goes north from the Mosaboni mine, the gold concentration is likely to increase.

“Secondly, Rakha (mine) has a high and sustainable rhenium content in the ore coming with copper and molybdenum. Rhenium could be economically exploited for our space programme. Surda should contain more copper and nickel along with gold.”

Rhenium, incidentally, is among the world’s most expensive metals and finds application in alloys and catalysts, besides photography. According to Dr Sen, the copper concentrate that foreign companies intend to take in lieu of investment will contain significant amounts of gold and other precious and rare metals.

“It will give them an enormous cost advantage and profit. They will only be paying for copper and the other metals will be gratis. It will finally be a loss to the country. Under any circumstances, the copper concentrate from such areas should be sold at a much higher premium than the standard rates because of the significant presence of precious and rare metals, which can easily be recovered with appropriate technology.”

Dr Sen holds a doctorate from Calcutta University and was a post-doctoral fellow at Oslo and Uppsala Universities. He was also faculty member of the Metallurgical Engineering Department of the Colorado School of Mines and visiting faculty at IIM-C.