Hindustan Zinc Limited to set up Rs 1,350 crore plant in Rajasthan

KOLKATA: Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), the country's leading zinc producer and part of Vedanta Resources, is poised to set up a greenfield Rs 1350 crore di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) plant in Rajasthan, in step with Anil Agarwal's ambitious plan to diversify into fertilisers. This forms part of the company’s move to invest nearly Rs 8,000 crore in the state over the next three years.
The plant which is slated to have a capacity of five lakh tonne per annum, will come up at Udaipur. It utilize output from the company’s rock phosphate mine to produce DAP. Vedanta boss, Agarwal has earlier said that India has enough potential, worth almost $400-500 billion, in natural resources like oil & gas, gold, silver, iron ore, copper, coal, calcium and rock phosphate. Incidentally, HZL restarted production at the Maton rock phosphate mine.

The company, which is also the country’s top lead and silver producer, is tipped to spend the remaining Rs 6650 crore in expanding its mines in the state. This includes expansion, milling and mine development at its captive mines at Rampura Agucha and Sindeswar Khurd. The latter, one of the country’s leading mechanised mines is also most silver rich. HZL has also line dup investment at its Zawar, Kayar and Rajpur Dariba mines. A chunk of the planned investment will also go into mine development and exploration at Bamania Kalan, HZL’s official spokesperson said. The company said it plans to raise ore production from 10 to 15 million tonne per annum. Mined metal production will go up from 1 to 1.2 mt.

However, the company is also bracing itself for a likely hit on its bottomline following the stipulation of the revised Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation (MMDR) Amendment Act, 2015. According to the provisions regarding payment of higher royalty, the company’s contribution to District Mineral Foundation is expected to dent its profitability to an extent.