The distressed PSU Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) began mining at its captive iron ore block in Koira of Sundargarh district in Odisha. While NINL itself is on the Government’s list of companies to privatise before the end of the year and its 1.1 mntpa plant at Kalinganagar remains idle, it has been allowed by its parent ministry and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) to extract and sell upto 1 mtpa of iron ore in the open market over the next two years.
The pig iron maker is being helped by the Steel Ministry’s NMDC in starting operations at this block. NMDC is one of the shareholders of NINL. a JV between state and central entities MMTC and IPICOL and OMC.
A “ground- breaking” of the Mithirda block, kicking off production, was attended by Sumit Deb, CMD NMDC and RK Jha, MD NINL according to a NMDC release. The statement said the additional volume will ease iron ore scarcity in the state and help the company pay employee dues.
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