KIOCL to revive iron ore mining, to invest Rs 1,500 cr in new plant

Firm had suspended mining in the eco-sensitive Western Ghats following a Supreme Court order in 2006

State-owned KIOCL will revive mining after a decade in Karnataka, after the state granted the company a lease of over 474 hectares at Devadaru hills in Ballari. KIOCL had suspended mining in the eco-sensitive Western Ghats following a Supreme Court directive in 2006.

"The company has already prepared an action plan and initiated the process for obtaining the necessary statutory clearances," said Malay Chatterjee, CMD of KIOCL on Wednesday. Once approvals are given, it would invest Rs 1,500 crore in a pellet plant and also a unit to enrich iron ore from the mines.

After suspension of mining, KIOCL had shifted to operating 3.5 million tonne per annum pellet plant in Mangaluru. Last year, it produced 1.46 million tonnnes, utilising half its capacity, as against almost nil production in the previous year.

Under the Make-In-India programme, International agencies have already implemented pilot projects by bringing high grade iron ore from South America, Iran and other parts of the world and utilising KIOCL's facility, have taken away pellets facilitating better utilisation of its plant capacity and profitability utilising its manpower.

The company's blast furnace Unit having a capacity of 216,000 tonnes of pig iron which was put under suspension since 2009 has been taken for repair and the Unit is ready for operation for producing foundry grade pig iron adding towards its profitability in the coming financial year.

The firm earned a profit of Rs 47.93 crore in FY17 as against a loss of Rs 80.15 crore the orevious year. Revenues grew 353 per cent to Rs 929.36 crore from Rs 205.57 crore in the previous fiscal.