February 10, 2022: Indian lead producer and recycler Gravita said in a February 3 regulatory filing it had closed a subsidiary entity set up to consider the potential for a manufacturing operation in Peru.

Company secretary Nitin Gupta said in the filing to the Securities and Exchange Board of India that the ‘step down’ subsidiary — Gravita Peru SAC — was one of several entities established to evaluate potential future projects in a number of countries.

However, there have been no operating activities and so the directors decided to close the entity, Gupta said.

An annual report of Gravita subsidiaries, published by the company on March 31, last year, said the Peru entity was still “in the development phase”. As of that date, only market research activities were planned to assess the potential for setting up a manufacturing plant in the country, the report said.

The International Lead and Zinc Study Group said during an online conference on October 19, 2020, that Covid-19 related restrictive measures had severely impacted the mining industry in a number of countries, including Peru.

Gravita reported last December that it had opened a new battery recycling plant at Mundra Port in the Indian state of Gujarat. The plant will ultimately produce 48,000 tonnes of lead a year.