Hindustan Zinc forays into critical minerals, sets up subsidiary
Vedanta-owned Hindustan Zinc, the third largest silver maker globally and among the major zinc makers in India, is planning to explore, discover and develop mineral blocks, especially critical, deepseated, and oshore ones. It
The article titled ‘Decoding genomics for public health’ authored by Dr Vedam Ramprasad and carried in the last edition of Pulse referred to ‘GenomeAsia 100K’ as a Government of India initiative. It is not. The project is co-founded by MedGenome along with its partners. The error is regretted.
will also participate in an auction of critical mineral blocks here.
The company has already set up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Hindmetal Exploration Services Pvt Ltd, to tap mineral resources “through systematic exploration” of deposits. As per a stock market notification, it will also “participate in auctioning of mining blocks containing critical minerals.”
According to Arun Misra, MD and CEO of Hindustan Zinc, the subsidiary will be operational in the next six – seven months. Exploration activities will be primarily carried out in India. An area of work will be identified over the next few months.
“The Mines Ministry is looking at various policies whereby it will look at promoting mine exploration, development
Arun Misra, MD and CEO, Hindustan Zinc
and mapping activities for critical minerals; and also o-shore minerals. The exploration company helps give us an advantage. We would also be bidding for mineral blocks through this company,” he told businessline.
The Ministry of Mines, India, is already developing the process, procedure, norms and SOPs for o-shore mineral block auctions over the next two to three months.
Critical mineral block auctions are currently underway.
While Vedanta, the parent company, has bid for critical mineral blocks in the ongoing auctions, Hindustan Zinc is yet to place a bid.
DEMAND IN INDIA
Demand across key oerings like zinc, lead and silver are expected to stay strong in India, Misra said.
Zinc demand will be driven by infra – push and improved steel requirements; lead demand will come for a push for EVs (electric vehicles), inverters, lead batteries, among others.
In silver, Hindustan Zinc is eyeing a 10 per cent-or-more share of the country’s 6,5007,000 tonne annual requirement, which is met mostly through imports.
“We would be getting into lead alloys at a future date. There is increased demand for zinc coming from the autosector including galvanised cars – which are popular in Europe,” he explained. Against a global average of 1.5–2 per cent growth, zinc demand in India is expected to grow around 4-5 per cent.
PRICE OUTLOOK
According to Misra, zinc prices are already witnessing a price rally amid supply issues and LME’s disallowance of stocking from sanctioned countries. Prices are expected to hit the $3,000 mark around August-September, ahead of the December period that analysts have stated.
Current prices are hovering around $2,850 per tonne and indications are that they will reach the $2900 per tonne range in the coming days.