Indian iron ore production for the fiscal year FY’18 moved up by 5% and was witnessed at 200.96 MnT against FY’17 production at 190.94 MnT. Increase in production was owing to high production in Odisha and Karnataka.
Odisha – India’s largest iron ore producing state witnessed increase in its yearly output in FY’18. According to the provisional data of Odisha govt. maintained by SteelMint, state’s production stood at 96.76 MnT in FY’18 as against 94.17 MnT in FY’17. The figures include material type – fines, lump and concentrate.
India’s Top 5 Iron Ore Producers in FY18
1. NMDC – India’s largest iron ore miner recorded production at 35.5 MnT in FY’18, reached record high levels. The production witnessed up by 4% against 34.03 MnT in FY’17. The company’s production was in line with the laid target announced earlier last year.
The total production from Chhattisgarh mines for FY’18 (Apr’17- Mar’18) recorded at 23.5 MnT, up 7% against 22.03 MnT in FY’17. The production from Karnataka mines for FY’18 stood at 12 MnT in line with production in FY’17.
NMDC plans to increase its iron ore production to 43-45 MnT in FY19 and further increasing to 67 MnT by 2022 as per its guidelines released.
2. SAIL – SAIL’s iron ore production from its captive mines in FY’18 was witnessed at 26.83 MnT against 26.44 MnT in previous year. SAIL has its captive mines in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Its production from Odisha mines stood at 7.23 MnT in FY18, up 4% Y-o-Y.
The iron ore production at Barsua mine remained suspended since 17th May, 2014 on the direction of Hon’ble Supreme Court. For resumption of iron ore production, continual efforts were made to get the clearance from Hon’ble Supreme Court for starting the mining operations and after necessary clearances, the iron ore production from Barsua mine resumed on 20th May, 2018.
In order to expedite capacity expansion projects of mines, EC & FC clearances have been obtained for few mines in FY18.
3. Rungta Mines– India’s largest private merchant miner produced 25.34 MnT iron ore from its mines in Odisha and Jharkhand. The miner produced 25.25 MnT iron ore from its Odisha mines in FY’18, up 10% against 22.87 MnT in FY’17.
4. Tata Steel – TATA Steel’s total iron ore production from captive mines for FY’18 witnessed at around 23 MnT, in line with FY’17 production of 21.6 MnT. The company has captive iron ore mines in Odisha and Jharkhand. Its production from Odisha mines was up by 7% to 12.67 MnT in FY18.
5. Serajuddin Mines- Odisha’s second largest merchant iron ore miner depicted production at 9.03 MnT, down 17% Y-o-Y against 10.89 MnT in FY’17. The drop is owing to closure of mines due to illegal mining case in Odisha. Serajuddin had to shut down its operations in Jan’18 and for most of Feb’18, following Supreme Court’s order owing to inability to submit the penalty amount by the deadline of 31st Dec’17. However, towards the end of 1st week of Feb’18, Serajuddin Mines submitted the penalty amount along with the interest, to which the final approval to resume the operations came on 23rd Feb’18. The miner has an EC limit of 15.15 MnT p.a.
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