Exemption for manufacturing use denied where explosives were used only to extract ore, not in concentrate manufacture.

Explosives used only at the mining stage for blasting ore were held not to satisfy an exemption limited to goods used in the manufacture of zinc or lead concentrates. The majority reasoned that mining ore and manufacturing concentrates are distinct operations, so actual use in concentrate manufacture was a substantive condition of the notifications. The proviso allowing use elsewhere than in the factory applied only after that core condition was met. The contrary integrated-process view, treating mining and beneficiation as one continuous operation, was rejected, and the explosives were therefore ineligible for exemption.

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Issues: Whether explosives used in blasting at mining sites for extraction of ore could be treated as goods used in the manufacture of zinc or lead concentrates so as to qualify for exemption under the relevant notifications.

Analysis: The majority held that the substantive condition of the notifications required actual use of the goods in the manufacture of concentrates, and that mining of ore and manufacture of concentrates were distinct operations. The use of explosives at the mining stage was held to be for extraction of ore and not for manufacture of the concentrate product. The proviso permitting use elsewhere than in the factory was held to apply only where the main exemption condition was first satisfied. The contrary view, treating mining and beneficiation as one continuous process, was rejected.

Conclusion: The explosives were not eligible for exemption under the notifications and the appeals failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Goods used only for extraction of ore at the mining stage are not treated as goods used in the manufacture of concentrates for the purpose of an exemption limited to such manufacture, even if the notification permits use elsewhere than in the factory.

Dissenting Opinion: The Vice-President held that mining and beneficiation formed a continuous and integrated process leading to concentrate production, and that explosives used in mining were covered by the exemption because the notification permitted use elsewhere than in the factory of production.

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