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The State-owned KIOCL (formerly Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd) has told Karnataka government that without captive mining, its existence is threatened.
Mr Malay Chatterjee, who took over as chairman and managing director of the company recently, met the Chief Minister, Mr Jagadish Shettar, and apprised him of the situation.
Grim situation
“I called on the Chief Minister and sought his help for allotment of new mining assets in the State,” Mr Chatterjee told Business Line .
“I have also impressed upon him that KIOCL has been suffering for almost a decade for want of captive iron ore mines. We are starving as our mining operations in the State are suspended following the Supreme Court’s verdict,” he added.
The company currently sources iron ore requirement from NMDC to run its profit-making pellet plant in Mangalore.
Rejuvenation plans
The company is planning to initiate steps to rejuvenate its business. Mr Chatterjee said, “Rejuvenation is not only by expansion in Karnataka but also by taking up other projects that can create employment and generate additional revenues.”
KIOCL is also exploring the possibility of acquiring mines in India and abroad.
“The company is in dialogue with Andhra Pradesh government for allotment of captive mine for setting up greenfield value-added project and is also looking for iron ore mining assets in Africa,” he said.
The company has also initiated growth through backward and forward integration. During the 11th Plan period (2007-2012), the company had drawn up various schemes under expansion and diversification programme. Some schemes materialised and some did not.
For the 12th Plan period (2012-17), the company has identified forward and backward integration such as the blast furnace unit to make it economically viable on a standalone basis.
The filtration technology for keeping moisture in the filter cake within the desired range is under operation.
Another project is the coke oven battery with a capacity of three lakh tonnes a year with 25 MW captive power plant has been identified under backward integration.
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