Hope for HCL’s Surda mine reopening as state issues letter of intent
The letter of intent, issued on Thursday, has paved the way for early ministerial approval and reopening of the Surda mine that will benefit 1,500 workers, who are currently unemployed.
Chances of early reopening of the Surda mine of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL)-Indian Copper Complex (ICC) brightened after the Jharkhand government recently issued its letter of intent, following a meeting between Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato and state chief secretary Sukhdev Singh.
“I thank the state chief secretary for his intervention in issuing the letter of intent soon after our meeting with him in Ranchi on Thursday. This paved the way for the HCL-ICC management to submit the same to the expert appraisal committee of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (UMoEFCC) during the video-hearing for environment clearance held on Thursday itself,” Mahato said Friday.
The letter of intent, issued on Thursday, has paved the way for early ministerial approval and reopening of the Surda mine that will benefit 1,500 workers, who are currently unemployed.
The MP said the state government’s letter of intent was the basic requirement for environment clearance by UMoEFCC for HCL-ICC request to mine 9 lakh tonnes of copper annually from Surda mine.
“This will pave the way for environment clearance by the UMoEFCC and subsequently expedite the process of lease renewal of the Surda copper mine by the state government shortly. This will directly benefit 1500 workers rendered jobless because of the closure of Surda mine. My next objective is to reopen Rakha-Chapri mines which will provide jobs to thousands more,” said Mahato.