Copper production rose to 6.92 LT in 2012-13

New Delhi: Copper production rose by 1.1 percent to 6.92 lakh tonnes in 2012-13 fiscal, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said in Rajya Sabha today.

The country, which imports copper ore concentrates to meet the domestic demand, had produced 6.84 lakh tonnes copper a year ago.

Copper production was at 6.64 lakh tonnes copper in 2010-11, the minister said.

“The refining capacity is more than domestic consumption requirements,” Patel said.

To a question on whether the government had come across any case of holding stocks of copper for speculative sale, the minister answered in the negative.

Answering a question on whether Geological Survey of India (GSI) was facing manpower shortage, Patel said it now has 12,369 employees.

“GSI is taking action to fill up the vacancies in a phased manner which is to be completed by 2018,” he said.

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