Jamshedpur: Environment decks cleared for operation of Hindustan Copper Limited’s Surda Mines

Jamshedpur, May 31: The Government of India got environment clearance of Surda Mines of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) on Monday. 

The Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Government of India has given environment clearance to Surda Mines. With the release of information related to this on the portal of the concerned department on Monday, there is happiness among the company management and employees. Especially the workers of Surda Mines have expressed their gratitude towards the Government of India while expressing their happiness.

The way to start production in Surda Mines, closed for the last two years, has been cleared after getting the environment clearance. At the same time, along with getting the environment clearance, HCL has also got approval to produce 9 lakh tonnes of concentrate annually from Surda Mines. At present, only 3 lakh 17 thousand tonnes of concentrate is allowed to be produced in Surda Mines. Recently, the Jharkhand government had also given a Consent to Operate (CTO) letter to HCL to produce 3 lakh 17 thousand tonnes per annum concentrate. After getting the environment clearance, HCL will seek CTO from the Jharkhand government for the production of 9 lakh tonnes of concentrate annually. Obviously, this will strengthen the economic condition of HCL in the coming days and new employment opportunities will also be created.The HCL-ICC management was struggling for the last ten years regarding the environment clearance of Surda Mines. Management had applied for environment clearance in the year 2012 itself. However, the environment clearance was not approved due to various technical reasons.

Meanwhile, due to the expiry of the lease of Surda Mines on 31 March 2020, the production work was completely stopped from  April 1 due to which a large number of laborers became unemployed. Management struggling for lease renewal made it necessary to obtain environment clearance from the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Government of India. The Ministry of Forests and Environment had given conditional environment clearance to the company for lease renewal. After getting the conditional environment clearance, the state government’s cabinet had granted lease extension of Surda Mines for 20 years to HCL on 9 December 2021. After the lease extension was approved, it was necessary that the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change should provide permanent environment clearance to HCL. On Monday, the concerned ministry has approved it and given permission to start production once again in Surda Mines.