KIOCL Ltd (formerly Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd), a profit making Central PSU under Ministry of Steel, has been allotted a mine in Karnataka.

The Union Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai told Lok Sabha in a written reply that the Ministry of Mines had sanctioned 30-year lease for iron and manganese ores in an area of 116.55 hectares in Hombalagatta and Hosahalli villages of CN Halli Taluk in Tumkur district.

Vishnu Deo Sai said the requisite clearances are under process with concerned authorities.

KIOCL has expertise in mining and beneficiation of iron ore for more than 25 years. The company had operated a mechanised magnetite iron ore mine to produce 22.5 million tonnes of run of mines (ROM) a year with modern beneficiation technology to produce 7.5 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate in the country till the end of 2005.

KIOCL stopped mining operations at Kudremukh since January 1, 2006, as per the order of Supreme Court, as the area was declared as a national park.

Relief for company The mine allotment has come as a relief for the company, as Malay Chatterjee, Chairman and Managing Director, KIOCL, had been lobbying hard with both Centre and the State government for allotment of a captive mine.

Chatterjee had said the company was forced to source ore from mines from Chhattisgarh and was incurring huge logistic costs coupled with levy of Distance Based Charge (DBC) imposed by the Indian Railways. This led to the company’s pellet prices not being competitive in the global market.

With the new mine allotment, the company’s pellets are expected to become competitive in the market.

KIOCL operates a pellet plant in Mangalore with capacity to produce 3.5 million tonnes a year as a value addition to iron ore concentrate.

The company resumed pellet exports to China in August after a gap of three years.

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