Odisha Mining Corp eyes 10 mn tonne iron ore output in FY17

Firm ropes in L&T, EIL, Mecon to mechanise key mines to achieve this end

State owned mining company Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has targeted to produce 10 million tonne (mt) of iron ore in 2016-17.

"This fiscal, we are aiming at iron ore production of 6.5 mt and in next (fiscal) year, this will touch 10 mt. Through mechanisation of our key mines like Gandhamardhan and Kurmitar, we are going to scale up production," said Girish S N, managing director, OMC.

The status of different leases of OMC was taken up for review at a high-level meeting chaired by the state chief secretary.

To boost production of iron ore from the Daitari mines by 2.5 mt, OMC has decided to go for a new 1,000 TPH (tonne per hour) ore handling plant along with 3,200 TPH mechanised wagon loading system including related railway infrastructure. The project proposal has been approved by the state government. L&T has been engaged as the EPC (engineering, procurement & construction) contractor while Dastur & Company is the technical consultant for the project. Construction work on the project will commence after obtaining approval of forest diversion plan from the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF).

OMC has also decided to ramp up production from Gandhamardan mines to 9.12 mt. Mecon Ltd has been roped in as the technical consultant for this project. An agreement has already been signed with Mecon for this purpose.

Similarly, the miner has decided to enhance the production capacity of its Kurmitar mines to six million tonne per annum. Apart from raising production, a suitable evacuation methodology is being worked out. This project is being taken up with the technical guidance from Engineers India Ltd and a techno-economic feasibility is being prepared.