Context

Recently, Fourteen officials of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) trapped inside a mine at Khetri in Rajasthan’s Neem Ka Thana district.

• The incident occurred at the Kolihan mine when a lift carrying officials down the mine shaft collapsed due to a rope snapping.
  • Kolihan mine is part of the northern tip of the Khetri Copper Belt.

Khetri Copper Mine Complex

It is situated at the foothills of the Aravalli Range, at Khetri Nagar, Neem Ka Thana district of Rajasthan.

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• Range : 
  • It hosts copper mineralization, giving rise to a 80 km long metallogenetic province from Singhana in the north to Raghunathgarh in the south, popularly known as Khetri Copper Belt. 
  • It has Mechanized underground mines namely ‘Khetri’ and ‘Kolihan'(capacity 1.0 million tonnes of ore per annum)
  • It comprises Proterozoic metasediments that rest over basement gneisses and is a part of the North Delhi fold belt. 
• Prominent deposits of the belt are: Khetri, Kolihan, Banwas, Chandmari, Dhani Basri, Baniwali Ki Dhani (Neem Ka Thana, Rajasthan). 
• Other deposits are: Dholamala, Akwali, Muradpura – Pacheri (Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan), and Devtalai (Bhilwara, Rajasthan).
• Management of Khetri Mine Complex : Development of Khetri Mine was started by National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and the project was handed over to HCL in 1967 when HCL was formed.

Copper Mineral Scenario

• Copper occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust in a variety of forms.
  • It can be found in sulfide deposits (as chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, covellite), in carbonate deposits (as azurite and malachite), in silicate deposits (as chrysocolla and dioptase) and as pure “native” copper. 
• Copper is the second largest non-ferrous metal by usage, with global demand for refined copper being about 25.04 million tonnes in 2020. 
• Methods of mining copper minerals: Open pit and underground 
  • Open- pit mining accounts for 80% of all copper mining operations in the world.
• Copper Extraction : 
  • The Mined copper ore is initially crushed , milled and concentrated by ore beneficiation process into a fine, gray powder called copper concentrate . 
    • If the nature of ore is sulphide : Froth floatation process is adopted to do the beneficiation wherein the 1 % copper containing ore is converted to more than 25 % copper containing concentrate. 
    • If the ore is oxide in nature : it is subjected to leaching followed by solvent extraction (SX) and electro-winning (EW) to produce refined copper.
  • Copper concentrate can contain 25-35% of copper, and similar levels of iron and Sulphur, minor percentages of other metals including gold & silver metals depending.

Copper Reserves and Production in India 

• Largest reserves/resources of copper ore : Rajasthan around 868 million tonnes (52.25%)  followed by Madhya Pradesh around 387 million tonnes (23.28%) and Jharkhand with 251 million tonnes (15.14%)
• Largest Producer : Madhya Pradesh was the leading producer of copper concentrates, accounting for about 56% in 2022 followed by Rajasthan (43%).
• Low Metal Content : India  has low-grade copper ore with less than 1% metal content while the international average for copper ore metal content is 2.5%.

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Global: 

• Chile is the top copper producer in the world, with 27% of global copper production.
  • Two largest mines in the world, Escondida and Collahuasi.
•  Chile is followed by Peru, responsible for 10% of global production.

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