State-owned KIOCL Ltd is looking at iron ore mines in Africa as part of its expansion plans and to address its resource security.
“It is in a preliminary stage. We have received some proposals from owners of land in Mozambique that contain magnetite deposits. We are sending a team of officials next week to look at these deposits,” said Mr K. Ranganath, CMD, KIOCL Ltd.
He was speaking to reporters after the Steel Minister, Mr Beni Prasad Verma, reviewed the company’s quarterly performance.
Further, Mr Ranganath said the company’s proposed expansion plans in India have taken a back seat in the aftermath of disruption of iron ore supplies from NMDC following the ban on mining in Bellary.
The company was looking to set up ductile iron spun pipe plant and install a coke oven battery besides setting up an integrated steel plant.
KIOCL relies on NMDC for its iron ore supplies, which are converted into pellets at its plant in Mangalore. Despite the challenges on the raw material supplies, the company produced 3.96 lakh tonnes of pellets against the targeted 5.16 lakh tonnes.
Meanwhile, MSTC under the Steel Ministry presented a dividend of Rs 1.97 crore to the Government. The e-commerce PSU mainly deals with disposal of reusable scrap.
MSTC has been recently selected by the Supreme Court to conduct e-auctions of iron ore piled up in Karnataka. MSTC will e-auction 1.5 million tonnes from Bellary and 1 million tonne from NMDC per month.