To: PAUL ROBERTSON who wrote (40451 ) 9/18/1999 6:11:00 PM From: Alex Respond to of 116762
Parekh Platinum to set up Asia?s largest gold refinery Swati Bharadwaj AHMEDABAD 17 SEPTEMBER PAREKH Platinum Ltd, a Rs 403-crore turnover Mumbai-based company dealing in precious metals with industrial as well as consumer applications, is putting up a gold refinery project at a cost of Rs 303 crore at Bhat near Ahmedabad. The project, slated to be the largest of its kind in Asia with a capacity of refining 150 tonnes per annum of gold, is likely to be commissioned by October 2001, Rajesh Parekh, vice-chairman and managing director, Parekh Platinum Ltd, told The Economic Times here. The refinery project is in addition to a Rs 110-crore gold jewellery plant, which the company will be formally commissioning at Bhat on Wednesday, with a capacity of producing 40 tonnes of jewellery per annum. The refinery project is being put up in technological collaboration with Argor Heraeus of Switzerland, which was earlier a wholly-owned subsidiary of Union Bank of Switzerland and has now been taken over by Commerz Bank of Germany. Mr Parekh said the decision of putting up the refinery and jewellery plant at Ahmedabad was taken in view of the fact that the city had become the nerve centre for gold business in the country. Besides, with many copper smelters coming up in the country, the company expects the recovery of precious metals from copper slime and refining to be a good business. Hence, the slime recovery project will be an internal part of the gold refinery project. The refinery proposes to manufacture gold bars, ten tola (TT) bars, medallions and coins. ?Negotiations are on with various banks for selling the products manufactured at the refinery,?? Mr Parekh indicated. The project has been appraised by the Industrial Development Bank of India, which is also the leader of the consortium that includes Industrial Finance Corporation of India and the State Bank of India. The Rs 209-crore networth Parikh Platinum Ltd deals in precious metals like palladium, rhodium, platinum, iridium, which have industrial applications, and consumer application metals like gold and silver. <Picture: Previous>ÿ ÿ<Picture: Next>ÿeconomictimes.com