KESHAV ADHIKARI

DHADING: Nepal Metal Company, established to extract ores from the foothills of Ganesh Himal and the vicinity, has remained shut for eight years. Stakeholders, however, are least bothered about bringing it back into operation. Closure of the government-established company means extraction of zinc and lead from the peak and adjoining areas has stopped. What it also means is that a whopping Rs 18 crores that the government had invested for infrastructure development and research has gone waste.

The company stopped its operation during the decade-long Maoist insurgency on security grounds. The government, Khetan Group and Hyderabad Industries of India have 71, 13 and 16 per cent shares in the company. Former central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Dhruba Thapa suspects that investors left the venture after seeing slim chances of making profit during the conflict. “The operation of the company can benefit the country financially,” Thapa says.

According to a survey, the peak and adjoining areas have a deposit of around three lakh tonnes of ores. Their extraction can meet Nepal’s 40-year demand for zinc and lead.

After the company’s shutdown, illegal extraction of metals has only increased. So, the government must bring back the company into operation by formulating a clear policy, says Thapa. Technicians involved in the survey had said that a tonne of oars found in the area can produce a kilogram of silver.

The himalayan times