Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is set to get an iron ore mining lease in Rajasthan. This is the second low-grade iron ore captive source for RINL.
RINL Director, Finance, P. Madhusudan, who is taking over as CMD on Wednesday, told Business Line the public sector company recently obtained a letter of intent from the Rajasthan Government for a mining lease for the asset, located in Bhilwara district.
The lease covers an area of 1,043 acres and has an estimated 400 million tonnes of ore-bearing deposit.
The average iron content in the ore is stated to be around 41 per cent, which can be enhanced by through-processing for steel making.
Currently, RINL is developing its first iron ore mine in Anantapur distict in Andhra Pradesh. It has been looking for captive raw materials sources in view of increasing capacities. It is now aiming to extend its capacity by 1 million tonnes to 7.3 million tonnes a year by 2015-16.
The company gets iron ore from state-owned miner NMDC, thermal coal from Mahanadi Coalfields and metallurgical coal through imports.
RINL’s step-down subsidiary Orissa Minerals Development Co Ltd (OMDC) was recently allotted a coal block in Odisha. “The block has geological reserves of 59 million tonnes thermal coal. OMDC will now go in for an agreement with the Union Government for development of the coal block,” Madhusudan added.
OMDC is one of the two mining outfits of EIL, the holding company, which RINL acquired a couple of years ago.
Mining companies are struggling to make operational their mining assets — mainly iron ore and manganese — by regaining various permissions. jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in