Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) has initiated the process to get restart mining from five mines lying closed in Kolhan belt of Jharkhand.

Kolhan comprises three districts: East Singhbhum, Seraikela Kharsawan district, and West Singhbhum. In Singhbhum, production in two mines at Kendadih and Surda has already started.

If the production starts in the rest five closed mines, HCL targets gold and other precious metals as valuable by-products extracted from anode slimes generated during the processing of copper ores. Already, this process was followed by the public sector company at its Indian Copper Complex in Ghatsila, Jharkhand.

Enquiry revealed that Blister copper processed at the Ghatsila unit produced a chemical sludge (slime) containing a high concentration of gold and silver, which HCL historically recovers.

Now, HCL has aggressively invested in scaling up ore production to maximize this secondary revenue stream. As per the plan of the HCL, Gold reserve can be set up and nearly 1.5 tonne of Gold can be generated in Singhbhum.

The region's Singhbhum Copper Belt is currently undergoing major expansions to triple domestic ore output.HCL partnered with the JSW Group via a Rs 2,700 crore contract to revive and expand the Rakha and Chapri copper mines in East Singhbhum, which is boosting local copper—and consequently, gold slime—production.

Located about 220 km away from Katihar, the Indian Copper Complex in Ghatsila operates as HCL's prime extraction hub in Bihar's neighboring state of Jharkhand.

To reopen the closed five mines, the HCL has appealed to the state government of Jharkhand to approve its plan. Toward the same end, HCL’s CMD Sanjiv Kumar Singh had met Jharkhand Chief Secretary Avinash Kumar on May 15,2026.

Already, the water removal work at the Rakha Copper Mines is part of a ₹2,700 crore revival and expansion project awarded by Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) to South West Mining Limited.

Because the mine was suspended in 2001, its underground workings were heavily waterlogged, necessitating extensive dewatering operations before full-scale underground mining and new concentrator plant construction can commence.

HCL has sought the state government of Jharkhand’s approval to restart production at Dhobni-Kishangarh and Pathargora copper mines.

These Dhobni-Kishangarh and Pathargora copper mines
are prominent and have historically significant deposits located in the mineral-rich Singhbhum Copper Belt of Jharkhand.

Both mines are structurally tied to the 160-km-long Singhbhum Shear Zone and fall under the purview of the HCL, it is learnt.