In a significant relief to the Indian Steel makers
currently reeling under severe raw material shortages, India's largest iron ore
producer National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) will step up
production by at least 20% this fiscal on the back of fresh iron ore reserves that
pushed total reserves up by around 50%.
NMDC sells over 85% of iron ore produced to the domestic players such as Rashtriya
Ispat Nigam, JSW Steel, Essar, Ispat, Kudremukh Iron Ore and Welspun Maxsteel.
Through continuous exploration measures, NMDC has found that its iron ore
reserves have increased to 1,565 million tonnes by March this year and 2,176
million tonnes now based on the exploration results.
“The finding of fresh iron ore reserves will be a major relief to the
Indian steel industry, which is worried that the high quality ore reserves are
getting exhausted,” said NMDC’s chairman and managing director Rana Som.
NMDC has planned to begin operations at the new mine – Kumaraswamy iron ore
mine using the existing mining infrastructure of Donimalai.
In an added advantage to NMDC, the Supreme Court has recently lifted the ban on
production at Kumaraswamy iron ore mine and allowed annual production of up to
12 million tonnes from Bellary region of Karnataka. As a result, NMDC now has
two operating mines in the Bellary-Hospet region as against one earlier.
The daily average iron ore production in the Bellary-Hospet region consisting
of both Donimalai and Kumaraswamy mines has reached around 30,000 tonnes a day
now from around 20,000 tonnes a day before the court order.
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