Hindustan Copper in talks with copper giant CODELCO to ramp up production: Mines secretary
Officials familiar with the matter said that the two companies are likely to form a joint venture with HCL holding a substantial stake in the partnership once it is cleared by top government officials.
- Nov 14, 2025,
- Updated Nov 14, 2025 5:56 PM IST
India's state-run copper miner, Hind Copper Ltd. (HCL) is in talks with Chile-based CODELCO (Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile) to ramp up their production, mines secretary Piyush Goyal told Business Today in New Delhi on Friday. "Our PSU Hindustan Copper is in discussions with CODELCO and we hope to get good results from these talks," he said.
Officials familiar with the matter also told Business Today that the companies are likely to form a joint venture with HCL holding a substantial stake in the partnership once it is cleared by top government officials.
"In order to review the grade of copper ores and potential production, a team of HCL's engineers will be visiting Chile to explore two untapped virgin blocks in December," another official aware of the matter told Business Today.
This comes months after the top brass of the two state-run companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in April 2025, focused on sharing knowledge and best practices to facilitate exploration, mining, and mineral beneficiation, along with employee training and capacity building.
Hindustan Copper, which currently holds reserves of about 2.05 million tonnes in terms of copper metal and total reserves and resource of 7.21 million tonnes in terms of copper metal has plans to increase its mining capacity from current level of around 4.0 million tonnes per annum to 12.2 million tonnes per annum by FY 2030-31 through expansion of existing mines, re-opening of closed mines and opening of new mines.
A potential partnership of India's largest copper miner with the world's largest copper miner — CODELCO — could potentially give an impetus to its 2031 goal of achieving the 12 MTPA target and also contribute to the government's Critical Mineral Mission.
India's state-run copper miner, Hind Copper Ltd. (HCL) is in talks with Chile-based CODELCO (Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile) to ramp up their production, mines secretary Piyush Goyal told Business Today in New Delhi on Friday. "Our PSU Hindustan Copper is in discussions with CODELCO and we hope to get good results from these talks," he said.
Officials familiar with the matter also told Business Today that the companies are likely to form a joint venture with HCL holding a substantial stake in the partnership once it is cleared by top government officials.
"In order to review the grade of copper ores and potential production, a team of HCL's engineers will be visiting Chile to explore two untapped virgin blocks in December," another official aware of the matter told Business Today.
This comes months after the top brass of the two state-run companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in April 2025, focused on sharing knowledge and best practices to facilitate exploration, mining, and mineral beneficiation, along with employee training and capacity building.
Hindustan Copper, which currently holds reserves of about 2.05 million tonnes in terms of copper metal and total reserves and resource of 7.21 million tonnes in terms of copper metal has plans to increase its mining capacity from current level of around 4.0 million tonnes per annum to 12.2 million tonnes per annum by FY 2030-31 through expansion of existing mines, re-opening of closed mines and opening of new mines.
A potential partnership of India's largest copper miner with the world's largest copper miner — CODELCO — could potentially give an impetus to its 2031 goal of achieving the 12 MTPA target and also contribute to the government's Critical Mineral Mission.