Question

At which of the following places the Copper Industry is located?
1. Tarapur
2. Titagarh
3. Ranchi
4. Khetri
5. None of the above/More than one of the above

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Khetri

The correct answer is Khetri.

• The Copper Industry is located at Khetri.
• Copper:
  • Copper is a good conductor of electricity and is ductile and able to be drawn out into a thin wire.
  • It is an important metal used by the automobile and defence industries.
  • Alloyed with iron and nickel to make stainless steel.
• Khetri Copper Industry:
  • Khetri is situated at the foothills of the Aravalli Range, which hosts copper mineralization, giving rise to an 80 km long metallogenetic province from Singhania in the north to Raghunathgarh in the south, popularly known as the Khetri Copper Belt.
  • The belt comprises tightly folded Proterozoic metasediments that rest over basement gneisses and is a part of the North Delhi fold belt.
  • Prominent deposits of the belt are Khetri, Kolihan, Ban was, Chandmari, Dhani Basri, Baniwali Ki Dhani (Neem Ka Thana, Rajasthan).
  • Other deposits are Dholamala, Akwali, Muradpura - Pacheri (Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan), and Devtalai (Bhilwara, Rajasthan).

• Copper Industries in India:
  • The three major players that dominate the copper industry in India include - Sterlite Copper, Hindalco Industries and Hindustan Copper.
  • As per CMIE, production from Sterlite's operating plant at Silvassa declined by 23.5 per cent to 35.5 thousand tonnes during April-October 2019.
  • Hindalco Industries managed to maintain its year-ago level of production at around 190 thousand tonnes.
  • Production from Hindustan Copper's smelter halved to 4.1 thousand tonnes during April-October 2019 compared to 8.4 thousand tonnes in April-October 2018.
  • Copper consumption in India is growing at 10 per cent CAGR and the per capita copper consumption is likely to be doubled by the year 2026.
  • The current per capita consumption stands at an abysmal low of 0.5 kg compared to global and Chinese intake.
  • India will become a market of 1.5 million megatonnes per annum by the year 2026.
  • The surge in consumption and demand synergized with the limited availability of copper concentrate required for copper metal manufacturing proving to be unsustainable for copper industries, the industry’s representatives opined.