Copper Industry in India

Copper – Indian and World Scenario

Introduction

Copper (element) – Symbol Cu,brownish- red metallic element that is one of the widely used of elements.

Its atomic number is 29. Copper was given its name by the ancient Romans,

who called it ‘acs Cyprium(metal Cyprus) as the Cyprus was the chief source of copper for the Roman's.

Copper was known to pre-historic people and was probably the first metal from which useful articles were made.

Contd…..

Copper scenario in India has undergone tremendous changes over the past few years – from a net importer of copper to a state of self-sufficiency rather emerged as net exporter.

Properties & Uses

Due to its many desirable properties such as its conductivity of electricity and heat, its resistance to corrosion, its malleability & ductibility and its beauty copper has long been used in a wide range of applications.

Copper melts at about 1083 C and boils at about 2567 C.

The conductivity of copper is second only to silver. Due to high ductibility it can be drawn into wires of

any diameter from 0.025 cm.

Contd….. The tensile strength of drawn copper wire is about

4200 kg/sq.cm as it can be used in outdoor power lines and cables , electrical machinery, such as generators, motors, controllers, signalling devices,

electromagnets and communication equipments. The two most important alloys of copper are brass -

a zinc alloy and bronze - a tin alloy. Copper has been used for coins throughout

recorded history and has also been fashioned into cooking utensils , vats and ornamental objects.

Copper is used in greater amounts than any metal except iron & aluminum.

Contd.

Certain copper solutions have the power of dissolving cellulose and large quantities of copper are for this reason used in he manufacture of rayon.

Copper is also used in many pigments and in such insecticides as Paris green and such flux glides as Bordeaux mixture.

Copper In Ancient India

During Pre- Harappa period(4000-2000 BC) copper axes and articles like copper mirror were in use and this period may be regarded as advent of Copper Age in India.

During the Harappa-Mohanjodaro era(3000-1800 BC) copper and more commonly bronze alloys were in use in plenty for domestic utensils, axe-heads, daggers, knives, arrow-heads, sickles, bangles, finger rings, wire and rods.

In the Post-Harappa period (1800-1500 BC) a large of copper tools have been excavated from eastern parts of India.

Contd…..

During the Vedic Period(1500BC-800AD) mention of copper comes along with other metals like gold , silver ,lead, tin and iron.

With the advent of Ayurveda(600-800AD) a great development has been made in chemical science.

Treatise related to Ayurveda and Arthashastra by Kautilya describe ores & alloys of copper & its utilization.

It is inferred that about 2000 years ago mining & smelting of copper of ores were in vogue in Singhbhum, Khetri & Sikkim areas.

Evolution Of Copper Industry In India

1862 Mining of copper ore has been done in Rajadah and Balia areas of Singhbhum district.

1919 Commencement of Rakha mine metal produced.

1928 Indian Copper Corporation Ltd.(CCL), started Mosabani mine & smelter at Maubhandar , near Ghatshila in Singhbhum district.

1967 Hindustan Copper Ltd. (HCL) incorporated.

1972 Indian Copper Corporation Ltd. nationalized and merged with HCL.

Contd….

1975 Smelter at Khetri Copper Complex (KCC) with 31000 tpy started.

1982 Malajkhand Copper Project comprising open pit mine (2 million tpy) and concentration plant commissioned.

1989 Continuous cast copper rod plants at Taloja with 60000 typ capacity started.

1996 Stertile Industries(I) Ltd.’s smelter at Tuticorin,(TN) commenced.

1998 HINDALCO Industries Ltd.’s smelter at Dahej (Gujarat) started.

2004-

05

Jhagadia Copper Ltd.(SWIL Ltd.), Bharuch (Gujarat),

reported production.

Ores Of Copper

Copper found in nature in two forms –as native copper and in mineral ore.

More than 160 known ores contain copper. Principal Copper ores are-

1. Native copper –Cu.2. Sulphide -

- Chalcopyrite or copper pyrite (Cu,FeS2, -34.5%Cu)

- Bornite(Cu3FeS4 -63.3%Cu)

- Covelite(CuS-66.4%Cu)

- Chalcocite(Cu2S-79.8%Cu)

Contd…..3) Oxides – Cuprite (Cu2O – 88.8% Cu)

4) Carbonates – Malachite(CuCo3Cu(OH)2 -57.3%Cu)

5) Azurite – (2CuCO3.Cu(OH)2 – 51.1% Cu)

6) Silicate – Chrysocolla – (CuSiO3H2O-36%Cu) About half of the world’s copper supply comes from

bright yellow ore called chalcopyrite which is often called fool’s gold.

Resources

Indian does not have rich resources of copper ore both in terms of quality and quantity.

NMI as an 1.4.2005 indicates that there are about 1394 million tonnes of copper ore in the country.

This amounts to about 11.42 million tones of copper metal.

Photo 1 : Copper Ore – Chalcopyrite (left) & Bornite (right)

Reserves/Resources of copper as on 1.4.2005

(‘000 tones)

28031207097322Ore with 1.85% and above Cu

13991712783112086Ore with (-) 0.5% Cu

6044946010633431Ore with (+) 0.5% to below 1.00% Cu

621985275331346654Ore with 1.00% and to below 1.85% Cu

1141870344384Metal (Total):

13944271024934369493Ore (Total):

Total

Resources

Remaining resources

ReservesGrade

Contd.

95% of the resources are in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Jharkhand.

The important belts from which copper is mined are Malanjkhand Copper Deposit (M.P.) ,Khetri Copper Belt (Rajasthan), Singbhum Copper Belt, (Jharkhand) and, Multi Metal Deposit of Gujarat , Sikkim and Chitradurga Copper Belt (Karnataka).

The reserves are rather less at 369 million tonnes(26%). Though the resources of copper are segregated from (-)5%

Cu to +1.85% Cu, the average metal contents in reserves and resources are worked out at 1.87% Cu and 0.82% Cu respectively.

Contd.

Thus < 1% average grade of Cu content in Indian resources make it of lower grade.

In other copper producing countries average grade is 3-4% Cu.

In India by - products are meagre (4-5%) in copper ore whereas mining companies in the world get 25 to 40% of revenue from by-products.

Profitability of low grade copper deposit (<1% Cu) depends upon percentage of valuable metals like gold & silver extracted and large scale mining operation.

Status Of Exploration

From the First Plan Period (1951-52 to1955-56) itself it has been stressed that new deposits of copper are to be explored .

Exploration agencies like GSI,MECL & DGMs carried out investigations in the States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand ,West Bengal, Sikkim etc.

However, except Khetri area in Rajasthan & Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh, no any economically feasible copper deposit could be established .

Ingaldhal (Karnataka) and Pachey-Khani deposits in Sikkim are rather small.

Contd.

There was no significant change has happened in NMI of copper resources as on 1.4.2005 over as on 1.4.2000.

During XI Plan Period (2007-08 to 2011-12) it is proposed that in addition to GSI and MECL,PSU like HCL , primarily in Copper mining ,should also undertake exploration either independently or as joint venture overseas organizations.

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Production

a) Copper ore and concentrates- The indigenous mining activity among the primary copper

producers is limited to only Hindustan Copper Ltd. and on a small scale by Sikkim Mining Corporation.

With the closure of ICC mines in Singhbhum district , Jharkhand due to increase in depth of operation, paucity of funds , and rather uneconomic operation at present copper ore production is reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan & Sikkim.

Four mines, three of HC, Khetri & Kolihan in Rajasthan, Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh and Pachajkhani in Sikkim of SMC mines ore in operation.

Contd.

Mining method practiced in the underground mines of HCL is room-and-piller method, horizontal cut-and-fill method and post-pillar method, using rock bolt support systems.

Contd.b) Metallurgy- Copper ores often contain very low concentration of metal. The most important ore the sulphide, contains not more than 12%

copper . It leads to many stages of production process focus on eliminating

impurities. The ore is crushed and milled before entering a flotation chamber,

in which copper concentrates float at the top while unwanted fragments sink.

The concentrates ore smelted in a reverberatay furnace which yields crude metallic copper (98% purity) and it is further purified by electrolysis yielding 99.9% pure copper.

During smelting , waste gases are removed , and material forms a molten pool of copper and iron, called matte , at the bottom of the furnace. The orange layer of impure metal on top of the matte is slag, which is drained off while the copper matte continues on to a converter.

Photo – 2 : Opencast Copper Mine – Utah (USA)

Trend in production of copper ore and concentrates

YEAR Production of copper ore

No of Qty Av.

Mine (tonnes) Cu%

Production of copper (conc)

Qty Av.

(tonnes) Cu%

1996-97 12 3895528 1.02 202000 22.09

1997-98 11 4499716 1.02 223328 21.51

1998-99 11 4229996 0.99 198510 21.83

1999-00 10 3084849 1.14 165024 22.81

2000-01 8 3498270 1.07

163564 23.07

2001-02 8 3417967 1.12 164469 23.03

2002-03 7 3071293 1.07 152099 22.51

2003-04 6 2902972 1.04 143135 20.63

2004-05 5 2929074 1.00 137003 21.19

2005-06 4 2642706 0.89 123646 20.19

Contd.

With the closure of copper in Jharkhand , Rajasthan and Sikkim production of copper ore has dwindled and it has affected the production of copper concentrates.

Grades of copper and concentrates have also lowered to below 1% and around 20% respectively.

Contd.c. Copper metal :-

Industrial Policy (July 1991) delicenced the non-ferrous metallurgical & it prompted a number of industries to established copper smelters/refineries.

Till 1997, the only producer of primary refined copper was HCL with an installed capacity for refined copper production

at its two integrated copper plant around 47,500 tpy and it was meeting 25-30% country’s requirements of copper.

Two other primary copper producers in private sector- M/S HINDALCO Industries Ltd. & M/S Sterlite.

Contd.

Industries (I) Ltd. of Vedant Group come up with their present capacities of 5,00,000 tpy & 4,00,000 tpy refined copper , respectively , based on imported concentrates.

M/S Jhagadia Copper Ltd.( formerly M/S SWIL Ltd.) is operating 50,000 tpy copper smelter based on secondary route (scrap based electrolytic smelter).

A copper smelter of M/S Metdist of 150,000 tpy of copper cathodes at Rampara-Rajula in Amreli district (Gujarat) is under process of setting up.

The present copper smelters capacity at 9.97 lakh tonnes/year is distributed as under;

Name of the smelter

Capacity (/000tonnes)

Sources(Ore/conc/scrap)

Total: 997.50 ----Hindustan Copper Ltd.

(i) KCC, Khetri.Distt

Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan)

(ii) ICC, Ghatshila, Distt

.E.Singhbhum(Jharkhand)

47.50 31.00

16.50

Domestic/imported concentrates

Imported concentrates

Sterlite Industries (I) Ltd.

Tuticorin (T.N.). 400 Imported

Concentrates

HINDALCO Industries Ltd.Dahej,Distt-Bharuch (Gujarat) .

500 Imported Concentrates

Jhagadia Copper Ltd. Distt

.Bharuch (Gujarat). 50 Imported

Scrap/Concentrates

Contd. At present copper concentrates produced from captive mines

meet about 60% requirements of HCL smelters. ICC Capacity is being enhanced to 19200 tonnes of copper

cathode. Besides copper metal ,the KCC produces sulphuric acid &

phosphatic fertilizers & ICC produces a varied types of by-products such as sulphuric acid , nickel sulphate , selenium- (14.60 kg) ,Silver-(6105kg),Gold-(434kg) and copper sulphate.

Sterlite Industries and HINDALCO Industries Ltd. do not have any captive copper mines in India, hence their entire requirements of concentrates meet through imports.

Sterlite owns two copper mines in Australia-Mount Lyell mine in Western Tasmania & Thalanga mines in Queensland.

Contd.

HINDALCO Industries Ltd. has incorporated a copper mining in Australia with 51% stake.

These companies are also importing copper concentrates from Chile, Indonesia, Australia, Argentina etc.

Sterlite Industries has set up copper refinery and rod mill at Silvassa (Dadra NagarHaveli).

Besides copper metals these units are producing sulphuric acid, gold and Silver as by-products.

Smelter of M/s Jhagadia Copper Ltd. is designed to use copper concentrates route for metal product also.

Consumption: As compared to the usage of 10kg copper in

developed countries, the per capita usage of copper in India is rather low around 0.3kg.

In absence of any authentic consumption data on copper the present apparent consumption of copper is arrived at around 4 lakh tonnes/annum.

Apparent Consumption of Copper ( in tonnes)

Year Production of copper (cathode)

Imports (Copper & alloys & scrap)

Exports(copper & alloys & scrap)

Apparent Consumption

1996-97 38481 236371 2628 272224

1997-98 52242 212237 2853 261626

1998-99 134017 125543 2942 256618

1999-00 226999 110280 3273 334006

2000-01 259683 62233 40775 281141

2001-02 335769 78369 66754 347384

2002-03 378850 78087 137911 319026

2003-04 395967 129625 191860 333732

2004-05 413354 140945 243388 310911

2005-06 529248 171526 301748 399026

The consumption of copper is driven by many factor like

(i) Transport Sector

(ii) Consumption Sector

(iii) Electrical Sector etc. A tentative comparison of the consumption pattern

of copper in various segments in the western world & India is as given:

Segment-wise copper consumptionSegment Western world% India% Electrical 28 54Industrial Machines & Equipments

16 27

Transport 12 5

Consumers/General

11 3

Construction 33 11

Contd.

The consumption growth is shifting towards developing countries like China & India from the developed countries due to the already existing matured market in the case of latter.

There exists distinct difference in percentage wise sectoral consumption figures. In western World Construction Sector has emerged as a major user of copper but in a developing Country like India, electrical Sector still accounts over 54% of copper consumption.

Recycling Recycling of copper and copper based alloy products have

become an integral part of the copper industry for a long time. Recycling is dependent on the efficiency of the scrap

collection system, technological & economic factors , product design , social values as well as on the incentives and barriers introduced.

Though the life expectancy of copper based equipments depends upon the actual end – use , it is seen that copper components of various engineering equipment come back for recycling after certain years:

(i) Small electric motors - <10 years

(ii) Medium sized transformers - 15 years

(iii) Heavy sized motors and generators - >25 years

(iv) Cable conductors - 30- 40 years

Contd. High recycle value of copper about 90% of the primary metal

makes its recycling process economically viable. Recycling of copper saves upto 80% of energy consumption. Copper based scrap are recycled mainly through two routes.

Secondary refining as in the case of machines M/s Jhgadia Copper Ltd. and second by direct smelting.

Railways, SEBs, P&T departments ,Steel Plants , Ordnance factories , Ship breaking etc. are the major sources of copper scrap besides it is being collected in unorganized sector.

In ship breaking , acceptable norm indicates that about 1.2% of the total scrap generated is copper based scrap.

In absence of organized scrap collection and its distribution, it is to be fairly acceptable norm that 20% of the refined copper consumption is based on indigenous scrap.

World Review Most of the world’s copper comes from the following

main areas-

(i) Rocky Mountain and Great Basin regions of USA particularly Utah,Mantana, Nevada and New Mexico;

(ii) The Andes Mountains in Peru and northern Chile;

(iii) Zambia and Congo in Africa;

(iv) Central Canada and northern Michigan;

(v) Ural Mountains in the Russian Federation; and

(vi) Mount Isa in Queensland Mount Lyall in

Tasmania, Australia.

Contd. The world reserve base copper metal is assessed

at 940 million tonnes. Chile has the largest share accounting 38% of world

reserves base followed by USA, China (7% each), Peru (6%),AustraliaPoland (5% each), Mexico, Zambia, Indonesia (4% each), Russia (3%), Canada and Kazakhstan (2% each).

Similarly, out of the total world mine products of contained copper at 14.5 million tonnes with 37% share Chile contained to be the largest producer followed by USA (8%),Peru(7%) ,Indonesia and Australia (6% each).

World Refined Copper Production (Qty in ‘000 tonnes)

Country 2004 2005 2006

World: Total 15850 16610 17328

Chile 2837 2824 2811

China 2199 2600 2999

Japan 1380 1395 1532

USA 1310 1260 1250

Russia 909 968 959

Germany 653 638 662

India 419 518 627

South Korea 496 526 576

Poland 550 560 557

Peru 505 510 508

Canada 527 515 501

Zambia 410 446 497

Kazakhstan 446 419 430

Australia 490 471 429

Contd.

World refined copper production is increasing @ 4-5% per annum.

However, production in China & India has registered an average growth of around 17% per annum.

Besides , China, the important copper metal producing countries are Chile, Japan, USA, Russia, Germany, S. Korea, Peru, Canada,etc.

Copper production in Asian countries- China, Japan, India,& South Korea is based on imported concentrates.

China alone accounts for more than 17% copper metal production followed by Chile 16%, Japan 9%, USA 7% ,etc.

World Consumption Of Refined Copper (Qty in ‘000 tonnes)

Country 2004 2005 2006

World: Total 16672 16655 17049

China 3364 3656 3609

USA 2410 2270 2130

Germany 1100 1115 1398

Japan 1279 1229 1282

South Korea 940 869 828

Italy 715 681 801

Russia 550 667 693

Taiwan 690 638 643

France 536 472 461

India 335 397 407

Other countries 4753 4661 4797

Contd. The world consumption of copper metal at 17 million tonnes in

2006 has shown more than 2% rise over 2005. With 3.61 million tonnes of consumption China accounted for 21%

followed by USA-12%, Germany-8% & Japan -7% etc. India’s share is over 2%.

Region-wise per capita copper consumption(kg) North America- 6.7

Latin America- 1.0

Western Europe- 9.1

East Europe- 3.5

Asia - 2.3

Africa- 2.6

World average- 3.6

Prospective Developing Countries Copper Demand

Developing Countries

Current

population (millions)

Per capita Copper use (kg)

Current copper demand

(‘000 tonne)

Potential long term demand assuming of

5-7kg/capita

China 1323 3 3500 6-9000

India 1106 0.3 400 7-10,000

Others 3061 1.2 3400 20-27,000

Prices- Average International Copper metal prices have risen substantially from US$ 1652.88/tonne in 1998 to US$ 8008.43/tonne in October 2007 registering around five fold increase.

Contd.

Prices- Average international copper metal

prices have risen substantially from US$ 1652.88/tonne in 1998 to US$ 8008.43/tonne in October 2007 registering around five fold increase.

Contd.

However Since 2004(US$ 2868.34/tonne) average rise was phenomenal which have increased to US $ 3683.64/tonne in 2005 , US $ 6730.60/tonne in 2006 and further to US $ 8008.43/tonne in October, 2007 registering average rise of 40%.

Copper prices have been driven by a number of factors particularly demand growth in China and other countries of Asia region like Japan, Taiwan, India.

Growth in demand has caught the Industry by surprise and help drive inventories to low levels.

The Prospects There is excellent opportunity for healthy growth of copper

market in India. Infrastructure development and Railways; Power sector,

especially rural electrification; and Information Technology sectors have potential for large scale copper usage.

The export market has a lot of potential with demand for refined copper in the Middle East and South-East Asian countries.

Consumer durables and automobiles which use copper as input material have shown positive growth rate.

Export of art metalware and decorative hardware & handicrafts made of copper and copper alloys will also increase copper consumption.

Contd.

Usage of copper for plumbing as in developed countries is an area will increase its consumption.

Domestic copper industry has to compete with reduction of duty on imports under WTO and duty free imports of refined copper from neighboring Countries under Free trade Agreements and Preferential Trade Agreements.

It is envisaged that during XI Plan Period domestic demand of copper is to grow at about 6% per annum while copper production is expected to increase by 15% per annum on account of new capacities being added by private players.

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