The Federation of Indian Minerals Industries (FIMI) held a two-day ‘Manganese/Chrome Ores and Ferro Alloys’ summit in Visakhapatnam on 16-17 Dec’21, which featured informative sessions on evolving market dynamics and cutting-edge technological innovations.
Manganese ore production
R.L. Mohanty, President, FIMI, shared his views on the importance of developing the domestic ferro alloys industry. He stated that there exists a gap between domestic production and consumption of manganese ore. Therefore, there is increased need for beneficiation of low-grade ores.
Sumit Deb, Chairman of NMDC and Vice-President of FIMI, also emphasised on utilisation of low-grade ore. He stated that recycling of manganese ore from scrap is not possible and beneficiation, therefore, is indispensable.
Manganese ore demand is expected to increase from the present 5.2 mn t to 11 mn t. It is important to increase capacity through greenfield and brownfield expansion and beneficiation of ores. In addition, sintering of ore for value addition is necessary, Deb further stated.
In the first session, sessions were chaired by executives of leading Indian companies. Issues such as lack of exploration activities and the need to increase manganese ore production were emphasised.
Manual operations, pocket deposits of manganese and difficulty in beneficiation are some challenges faced by manganese ore miners. Therefore, a detailed scientific approach is required for exploration and mining. There is scope for exploration of deep-seated deposits from the sea belt.
India’s demand for manganese ore is expected to reach around 9-10 mn t by 2030, although domestic production would reach up to 6 mn t by that time, shared senior officials of state-run MOIL. The PSU miner is planning to acquire new leases in other states and expects to produce 3.5 mn t of manganese ore by 2030.
Chrome ore & stainless steel
Subsequent sessions featured discussions on the South African and Chinese chrome ore and ferro chrome markets by International Chromium Development Association (ICDA), followed by Tata Steel Mining Ltd. (TSML).
Stainless steel growth in the coming years is expected to be stable at 4-7%, experts pointed out. However, supply constraints of ferro chrome from South Africa can not be ruled out on increasing power crisis and power tariffs imposed by ESKOM, shared a TSML official. Sessions on underground mining and uncertainties in tonnage estimation and the dry bulk density issue were conducted by MOIL and SRK mining services.
The second day of the conference witnessed technical sessions on the advancements in mining and ferro alloys smelting. A wide range of topics including cluster mining, usage of direct current (DC) arc furnace and minimising eruptions in the arc furnaces were discussed. Moreover, issues relating to maximum utilisation of mine resources by utilising common boundaries were discussed.
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