State-owned NMDC will take another week to ramp up iron ore production from
Karnataka up to 35,000 tonnes per day to meet the shortage faced by iron and
steel making units in Southern India, a senior company official said.
“At present, we are producing in the range of 28,000 to
30,000 tonnes a day. We can increase it to 35,000 tonnes per day but the rains
are playing spoilsport,” said NMDC Director (Finance) S Thiagarajan.
NMDC is the only company permitted to mine iron ore from Karnataka by
the apex court, which imposed a ban on mining in the state due to large-scale
environmental degradation of the mining areas.
The apex court had allowed the Navratna firm to mine one million tonnes (MT) of
iron ore per month (or 12 MT in a year) from the state, which translated to
about 33,500-34,000 tonnes of ore per day.
“It will take us a week's time to ramp it up to the desired level once
rains in the region stop,” Thiagrajan said.
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