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  Home > Our Business > Zinc
   
 
 
     
 

Zinc Overview

Our zinc business is owned and operated by HZL where we first acquired an interest in april 2002. We have a 64.9% ownership interest in HZL, with the remainder owned by the government of india (29.5%) and institutional and public shareholders (5.6%). 

Since acquisition of interest in HZL, we have significantly improved its operating performance through expansion and by improving operational efficiencies and reducing unit costs. HZL’s three lead-zinc mines supply all of its concentrate requirements and allow HZL to also export surplus zinc and lead concentrates.

Where We Operate

HZL’s fully-integrated zinc operations include three lead-zinc mines, two zinc smelters, one lead smelter and one lead-zinc smelter in the State of Rajasthan in Northwest India and one zinc smelter in the State of Andhra Pradesh in Southeast India.

  
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Principal Components

The principal inputs of our zinc business are:

Zinc and lead concentrates

Zinc and lead concentrates are the principal raw material of HZL’s smelters. HZL’s lead-zinc mines have provided all of its requirements for zinc and lead concentrates in the past. With the recent expansion of the Rampura Agucha mine, we expect HZL’s mines to continue to provide all of its zinc and lead concentrate requirements for the foreseeable future.

Power

Most of HZL’s operations are powered by the coal-based captive power plant at Chanderiya, for which HZL imports the necessary thermal coal from a number of third party suppliers. In addition, HZL, as a part of a consortium with five other partners, recently secured the award of a coal block from the Ministry of Coal of the Government of India, which will help meet the requirements of HZL’s captive power plants in the future. HZL’s remaining operations source their required power from liquid fuel-based captive power plants or from local power companies. The liquid fuel is sourced from third party suppliers on yearly contracts.

In addition, HZL’s pyrometallurgical smelter at Chanderiya requires metcoke that is used in the smelting process. HZL currently sources its metcoke requirements from third parties under long-term contracts and the open market.

Production Process

Our zinc business has a number of elements which are summarized in the following diagram and explained in greater detail
(Click here to view the Diagram)

Principal Products

Zinc

We produce and sell zinc ingots in all three international standard grades: Special High Grade (SHG), High Grade (HG) and Prime Western (PW). We sell most of our zinc ingots to Indian steel producers for galvanizing steel to improve its durability. Some of our zinc is also sold to alloy, dry cell battery, die casting and chemical manufacturers.

Lead

We produce and sell lead ingots of 99.99% purity primarily to battery manufacturers and to a small extent to chemical manufacturers.

Sulphuric Acid

We sell sulphuric acid to fertilizer manufacturers and other industries.

Silver

We produce and sell silver ingots primarily to industrial users of silver.

Production Volumes

  
   

Total production of HZL from its Chanderiya, Debari and Vizag facilities for the three years ended March 31, 2008
 
    Year ended March 31st
  Product 2006 2007 2008
      (tons)  
Zinc Zinc 283,698 348,316 426,323
  Lead 23,636 44,552 58,247
 
 
   
   
 
   
   
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