- HCL awards LOHUM rights to revive GCP
- 50,000 t/year project to boost copper supply
Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) has awarded critical minerals producer LOHUM the rights to restart, upgrade, and operate its dormant Gujarat Copper Project (GCP) at Jhagadia, Gujarat, under a 20-year revenue-sharing agreement, extendable by another five years.
The partnership aims to revive the 50,000 t/year secondary copper smelter and refinery and enhance domestic production of high-purity copper cathodes amid India’s rapidly growing copper demand. Following the planned engineering upgrades, the facility is expected to produce 99.9997% pure Grade-A copper cathodes, meeting international quality benchmarks.
The Gujarat Copper Project, located at Jhagadia Industrial Estate in Bharuch, Gujarat, was originally developed by Jhagadia Copper Ltd (JCL), promoted by the Khaitan Group of Shalimar Wires Industries. Conceived in 1992 and commissioned in 2003, the plant commenced commercial production in May 2006 before operations were suspended in September 2009 due to financial and working capital constraints.
HCL acquired the facility and associated leasehold land through ARCIL in June 2015 and subsequently renamed it the Gujarat Copper Project.
The plant spans approximately 75 acres, of which only around 40% has been developed, leaving substantial room for future capacity expansion and downstream value-added projects. The site also houses central utility infrastructure, R&D facilities, effluent treatment systems, water storage facilities, and dedicated hazardous waste handling and storage infrastructure.
The development assumes significance at a time when India’s copper demand continues to outpace domestic supply growth. Driven by rapid infrastructure expansion, renewable energy installations, EV adoption, urbanisation, and increasing investments in data centres, the country’s copper consumption has surged steadily in recent years.
India’s annual copper demand is currently estimated at around 1.8 mnt, while domestic production from both primary and secondary sources remains limited to around 1.3-1.4 mnt, resulting in a sizeable supply deficit.
India’s copper concentrate imports increased to 1.44 mnt in CY’25, reflecting an approximately 23% y-o-y rise. Despite being India’s only copper mining company, HCL contributes merely around 4% of the country’s total mined copper requirement, while nearly 96% is met through imports.
Against this backdrop, the revival of the Gujarat Copper Project is expected to support India’s efforts to improve resource efficiency, expand secondary copper production, and partially reduce reliance on imported refined metal.
Outlook
The Gujarat Copper Project represents an important step towards expanding domestic refining and recycling capacity. The HCL-LOHUM partnership could also emerge as a model for future public-private collaborations aimed at strengthening India’s critical minerals and non-ferrous metals ecosystem.
According to LOHUM’s Founder and CEO, “Copper is foundational to every aspect of India’s growth story. This revival of Hindustan Copper’s Gujarat facility is about ensuring that India rapidly produces more of what its needs from resources already in place and facilities that already exist.”
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