With sustainable operations at the core of our Mining business, we remained resolutely focused on making our mines more efficient, safe and productive. FY2021 saw Hindustan Zinc report the highest ever ore production, supported by proactive mine planning and backed by increased technology use and better targeting.
During the year, our mined metal production was up 6% from a year ago to 972 kt, on account of higher ore production. Integrated metal production was at 930 kt - up 7% from a year ago in line with the availability of mined metal with zinc at 716 kt and lead at 214 kt.
The second largest zinc mine in the world, the Rampura Agucha Mine stands apart as a massive world-class ore body with zinc-lead reserve grade averaging 13.4%. This stratiform, sediment-hosted, high grade zinc and lead deposit mine posted record-breaking productivity during the year at the back of increased operational efficiencies.
Ore production up 9% Y-o-Y
(As of FY2021)
MIC production up 9% Y-o-Y
The year saw RAM make notable progress on enhancing operational efficiencies through better management and focused initiatives to boost savings. Some of the highest ever operational milestones achieved at the Rampura Agucha Underground Mine that represent to showcase our performance efficiencies and productivity include:
With the successful commissioning of Ore Pass 3, the shaft can now be utilized for hoisting ore. The underground crusher can be utilized for increased crushing capacity, while tracks can be used further for waste hauling.
A slew of measures at the Rampura Agucha Shaft unleashed a series of benefits for the Mine during FY2021.
Shaft Integration with Decline achieved in February 2021
293 TPH High Density Thickener successfully commissioned at RAM in March 2021
Ore Hoisting from Rampura Agucha Shaft initiated in March 2021
Lateral development for Crusher-2 completed and erection of Crusher-2 initiated
With the completion of the connection of North Decline to shaft bottom, a ~8.9 kM decline has been successfully created, enabling enhanced hauling capacity of the mine. This will lead to quicker manpower transportation and better maintenance of machines. Other benefits include additional fresh air to bottom levels in the north section as well as additional mining fronts to boost development and volume.
With safety central to our mining operations, we introduced several innovative initiatives to enhance the safety quotient at RAM.
First Aid Station in India Developed The station is equipped with advanced medical apparatus to provide critical life-saving support for immediate underground first-aid facility. It is manned 24X7 by trained rescue personnel to aid emergency cases.
Successfully Commissioned RAM’s first man-pass (from -255L to -280L North) will enable secondary evacuation passage at the time of any emergency in the mine.
A case study presented by Hindustan Zinc’s team on upgrading line of sight to teleremote production bogging for improved safety.
Digitalization at RAM got a further push during the year with the implementation of several advanced initiatives:
Taking on the challenge of improving the annual recovery of Pb & Zn Ore from the previous fiscal’s levels of 52.56% and 87.36% respectively, the RAM team tried to identify issues that could be a barrier to increasing recovery.
The team found the root cause to lie in:
To improve the metallurgical performance & increase recovery, the team identified and implemented the following solutions at the plant:
These interventions resulted in surge in recovery of zinc, lead and silver, which in turn translated into higher MIC figures for all three in FY2021.
Installation of energy-efficient blower in Stream-1 to reduce power consumption by 0.5 kWh/ton
Online condition monitoring system for SAG Mill & Ball Mill gear boxes to improve reliability
Repairing of concrete reinforcement of Pb, Zn & Tailing thickeners to ensure structural and equipment safety
Reduction in Specific Power consumption in Stream-4 by 4 kWh/ton
Health Assessment Study of 132 kV Overhead line of RAM from 220 kV Gulabpura Substation
Implementation of IoT-based energy management system at Paste Fill Plant leading to 0.5 kWh/m3 reduction in power
Replacement of conventional wooden door by Emergency Exit Fire Door with Panic Exit device as per IS 3614
The captive unit of Rampura Agucha cluster of Hindustan Zinc, the Kayad Mine has been delivering a sustained ore production rate of 1.2 Mtpa since its capacity was ramped up to its full potential in FY 2017-18, just three years after regular production commenced in June 2014.
Reserves
TMC
(As of 1st April, 2021)
In line with the Company’s strong focus on Environment, Health and Safety, the Kayad Mine witnessed major initiatives and interventions to enhance its Green footprint and augment its safety quotient, with increased productivity and efficiency.
A series of novel safety and digitization initiatives during the year helped further scale-up the safety, operational efficiency and digital standards of Kayad Mine. Realizing the importance of skill upliftment of underground workers for ensuring safety and performance optimization in mining, we have set up a Training Gallery at the Vocational Training Center.
Ranked 1st in overall performance in 30th MEMC week in Underground Mine category.
Kayad Team won in the highest category “Par Excellence”, for its DMAIC project “Improvement in Fill Factor”, at the 34th NCQC-2020, organized by QCFI under Allied Concepts category, thus becoming eligible to participate at International Level ICQC-2021.
Kayad Mine received “State level BHAMASHAH award” for exemplary CSR work in Education.
Operational since 1983, the old underground zinc-lead Rajpura Dariba Mine (RDM) crossed the 1.2 Mtpa ore production milestone in FY 2020-21. This was a notable achievement as the Mine stayed aligned with its Vision to double its ore production even amid the COVID-19 crisis. Successfully overcoming all challenges, RDM, with its multiple production centers, continued to scale new levels of automation and mechanization during the year to stay on course of its growth charter.
Ore production up 17% Y-o-Y*
Mined metal production up 5%*
(*As of 1st April, 2021)
Ore production at RDM touched an all-time high during the year, with record production drilling. A series of innovations led to increased productivity and steady growth for the mine.
The growing focus on sustainable growth translated into further enhancement in efficiencies and safety at RDM during the year. The following measures contributed to this improvement:
Execution activities were launched during the year for combined pastefill and Dry Tailing Plant at Rajpura Dariba, which will help in increasing ore production from 1.2 Mtpa to 2 Mtpa. This will also facilitate additional utilization of tails by ~20% for back-filling, and will reduce stope turnaround time.
Shaft upgradation capacity from 0.7 to 1.35 Mtpa is planned in FY2022 H1 where skip freeboard will be optimized bringing back skip cycle from 30 to 40 skip per hour
With its current capacity of 6 Mt, the world-class silver-rich Sindesar Khurd Mine (SKM) is the largest underground mine in India. A key contributor to the Company’s integrated zinc and lead production and the prime mine for its silver portfolio, SKM is one of the lowest cost lead and zinc producers in the country. The mine delivered sustained performance even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, at the back of its operational and cost efficiencies.
Ore production
Total Mined Metal Production
Continuous expansion and technological advancements have made it the most mechanized underground base metal mine in the country. Apart from the Main Lens, the mine also consists of multiple standalone deposits, or auxiliary lenses, thus constituting multiple standalone production centers.
An early adopter of new technologies, SKM has expanded its digital footprint further to introduce a new digital way of working with the vision to increase its Overall Equipment Effectiveness by 20% during the year as part of its digitalization program – Drishti. The mine has been equipped with an optical fiber network, which was extended to a Wi-Fi enabled network for use by various utilities. This high bandwidth Wi-Fi network supports a data transfer rate of 10 GBPS. SKM has also recently commissioned an Integrated Control Room for mine and beneficiation plant operations from a single room.
By tracking its assets inside the mine using Wi-Fi tags and LASER scanner-based positioning system, SK Mine achieved significant reduction in shift-hour breakdowns to cut down on jamming issues. The average response time to clear jamming issues also reduced by 40%. The control room played a major role in tracking daily operations and critical processes.
OPTIMINE analytics and sustained efforts of SKM’s digital task force made it possible to predict failure of engine, brake, transmission, retarder and engine cooling system. Shift-wise predictive maintenance activities were performed, thus reducing the breakdown hours of Loaders and Trucks. This led to significant improvement in availability of these machines at the mine.
FY2021 saw SKM sharpen its performance edge with several new initiatives to drive efficiency. The result:
During the year, the Graphite floatation system was commissioned at Mill 3 of Sindesar Khurd Mines, which will enhance the smelter throughput and boost recovery.
Carrying forward its efforts to challenge the status quo and set new industry benchmarks, the SKM team successfully achieved running operations of more than 1,000 hours consistently in both its Paste Fill plants, thus resulting in significant reduction in underground voids.
The team, comprising members from plant and underground, used DMAIC methodology for process improvement. (Define: identify the opportunities for improvement; Measure: identify current performance; Analyze: identify root causes for gaps/problems in performance; Improve: identify possible solutions and implement, and Control: maintain the gains that are achieved.)
Post analysis, the team identified the following key initiatives:
The Result
Operating hours increased to a record 1,095 Hours in October 2020.
The highest ever growth in ore production and mine development marked a new milestone for Zawar Mines (ZM) during FY2021. This group of four reserve and resource heritage mines – Mochia, Balaria, Zawarmala and Baroi – have an average zinc-lead reserve grade of 4.70%. Regular reserve upgradation has led to increase in reserve from 14.5 Mt to 31 Mt by March 2021.
Ore production up 21% Y-o-Y
MIC production up 20% Y-o-Y
Ore production capacity at ZM is planned to be increased progressively to 5.2 Mtpa by FY2022. Based on R&R potential, the vision is to take it up to 6.5 Mtpa by FY2024.
Zawar Mines, Baroi Mines and Mochia Mines crossed the highest ever figures for Production, Development, Drilling & MIC in a month during FY2021.
First female mine manager at Zawarmala was inducted into the team
Extensive Innovation and judicious deployment of technology pushed up the efficiency bar at Zawar Mine during FY2021. A look at some of the innovations and technological interventions:
With the commissioning of the Backfill plant at ZM, the use of tailings in backfilling will go up, thus in turn increasing the life of the tailings dams. The commissioning of backfill plants at Zawarmala and Mochia mines will de-risk operations and provide opportunity to mine left-out high-grade ore in pillars.
ZM’s growth trajectory FY2021 mapped significant progress on the critical yardsticks of sustainability and safety.