The Hindu Business Line : NMDC gets nod to challenge deposit allotment to pvt cos

Hyderabad, Sept. 2 With the Committee on Disputes (set up by the Union Cabinet) giving the in-principle nod on Thursday, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has begun preparations to move the Delhi High Court, challenging the Government decision to allot two iron ore deposits to Tata Steel and Essar Steel.

Speaking to newspersons, Mr B. Ramesh Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director, said that the Corporation was against handing over the two deposits to the private companies.

It was first applicant seeking lease for Deposit 1 and an allottee with regard to Deposit 3.

The lease rights on Deposit 3 were to expire on August 30, 2007.

However, the State Government declared the lease as lapsed and allotted it to Essar even before it lapsed.

The go-ahead from the Committee on Disputes was mandatory as the issue involved two Government agencies.

Change in name

At the AGM on Friday, the Corporation decided to change its nomenclature to NMDC Ltd in place of the full name to suit the modern trend.

The board of directors declared final dividend of 85 per cent for the financial year 2006-07, taking the total dividend to 352 per cent (Rs 465.19 crore) against 276.62 per cent (Rs 365.58 crore) last year.

On foreign ventures, Mr Ramesh Kumar said that the Union Government had given consent to NMDC to open an office in Lesotho.

The company plans to set up a subsidiary there to explore opportunities in diamond mining.

Also, it has interests in Argentina, Tanzania and Senegal.

The latter two countries would be for mining of minerals that would go into fertiliser manufacturing.

Rail line

Work on the 235-km Dalli-Rowghat-Jagdalpur Railway line would be expedited soon at a total outlay of Rs 970 crore.

Of this, SAIL would contribute Rs 141 crore and NMDC Rs 70 crore.

With a view to meeting the requirements of the sponge iron plant it is setting up at Nagarnar, NMDC has signed an agreement with SAIL, RINL, CIL and NTPC to form a special purpose vehicle that will scout for coal properties abroad.

The coal thus acquired would be shared among the vehicle members.

The company, which produced 27 million tones (mt) of iron ore last year, has targeted 31 mt this year.

A certain portion of the ore would be made available to the spot market.

Rs 205-cr losses

The attacks of CPI (Maoist) on NMDC facilities and power installations in Chhattisgarh has resulted in a total loss of Rs 205 crore in the last two years.

“The loss in production was put at 8.5 lakh tonnes in 2006-07 and 7.5 lakh tonnes this financial year,” Mr Ramesh Kumar said.

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