New Delhi, May 14 (IANS): Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has assured a lawmaker from Rajasthan that there are no plans to shut down the Khetri Copper Complex (KCC) in the state's Jhunjhunu district.

KCC is the biggest unit of the public sector Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL).

"We have no plan to shut down the operations of KCC. In fact, we have plan for its extension," Tomar said in a letter addressed to Jhunjhunu MP Santosh Ahlawat.

The minister said that KCC plan to ramp up its production capacity to 3.1 million tonnes by March 2018.

Ahlawat had written a letter to Tomar this year on April 10, asking the government to take necessary steps to revive KCC. She had accused the authorities of conniving with the private companies to work towards closure of this PSU, and claimed laxity on the part of the management is depriving the country of profits when the copper prices are ruling high at international level.