Industry sources told The Financial Express that joint secretary S Talwar and director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises Sudha Midha were in the city to take stock of the current position of the restructuring schemes being worked out by the company.

The financial restructuring plan was discussed in detail, it is learnt. The areas deliberated upon included conversion of government loans and the voluntary retirement schemes, among other issues.

It may be noted that the copper company had received a government guarantee to raise its borrowing capacity for expansion programmes. It was also granted permission by the government to convert Rs 183 crore loans into preference shares at an interest of 7.5 per cent. The government has also agreed to write off loans worth Rs 165 crore, saidsources.

The public sector major has been allocated Rs 100 crore for the separation of 2000 to 2500 workers in the current year. The voluntary retirement scheme would be open till the end of the month. It had received Rs 60 crore in 1998-99, which went into the separation of 1200 people. The total strength of the company is 15,900 at present.

Meanwhile, the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress president Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay submitted a memorandum to the visiting ministry officials highlighting two main issues.

He has sought a non-plan grant for the payment of salary and wages due to the employees since June, 1999. Moreover, he has also requested the ministry officials to look into the possibility of increasing the VRS compensation as well.

Hind Copper had reported a Rs 106 crore loss over a 18-month period to September 30, 1998. HCL's fortunes took a beating over the last one year as copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit a 100-year low. Being the only copper producer inthe country, the company had to bear with overshooting costs at its mines.

The LME price, which was $2,844 per tonne in 1995-96, plummeted to $1,580 a tonne in 1998-99. The four-month average at present is $1,466. The copper company could only break-even at a price of $2,500 but that too with all the mines running at full capacity.

Among its other disadvantages is the poor copper content in the ores along with low amounts of gold and silver. HCL has six underground mines and one opencast mine. It has also suspended its mining operations at two of its mines in Ghatsila since July.

In its efforts to turnaround, HCL has also roped in the sevices of AT Kearney, the European consultancy firm, to frame a restructuring plan and thereby help it tide over the present problems by identifying certain core areas of strength and weakness.

The consultant in its principal recommendations have identified certain areas of strength and weaknesses for the company. The areas of strength include smelting and refiningactivities whereas the weak areas include the phasing out operations in a few of the uneconomic mines.