NMDC in line to set up two slurry pipelines in Bastar district

The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is in line to set up two slurry pipelines from Nagarnar in Bastar district, where the company’s demerged entity NMDC Steel (NSL) had set up a plant.  Of the three mechanised iron ore mines that NMDC operates, two are in the state’s Dantewada district. The Bailadila project in the district has two iron ore complexes — Kirandul and Bacheli — from where it plans to feed the 3 million tonnes (mt) per annum steel plant at Nagarnar.  The company is in the works to set up a 131-km-long slurry pipeline to carry iron ore from Bailadila mines to Nagarnar in a bid to reduce dependence on railways.

The non-availability of rakes had posed a major challenge for the miner as the delay in dispatch casts shadow on the produ­cti­on with a very limited cap­ac­ity of storage because the mines are loc­ated on hilltops. NMDC will complete the feasibility of the two slurry pipelines and execute the projects, if viable, once the on-going work is completed. The slurry pipe­line project between Bailadila and Nagar­nar is likely to be completed by 2025. 

“Out of 131 kms, a pipeline for 24 kms had already been laid and another 24 kms had been aligned for laying. Another 24 kms of pipes have already arrived which have not been aligned and only 24 kms of pipes are due to arrive,” said Amitava Mukherjee, chairman and managing director (additional charge) and director (finance) of NMDC.  He said the entire system would be ready for use by 2025. The sanction cost of the slurry pipeline is around Rs 2900 crore and is going to go up to Rs 3500 crore, he said. 

“Besides, we are also in the drawing board stage of making two more slurry pipelines; one will be from Nagarnar towards Vizag and we are also thinking about the economic sustainability of having another pipeline from Nagarnar towards Raipur,” Mukherjee said in a recent investors’ conference call. 
 

While the company has been carrying iron ore to Vizag by train, the raw material is transported to the state’s capital Raipur by road. The steel makers with facilities in Raipur, Bhilai, Bilaspur, Korba, and Raigarh obtain iron ore from the NMDC.

Transportation via road escalates the cost, subsequently making deals unviable for the local steel makers.

NMDC is eyeing 46 to 50 mt of production in the current financial year after its output marginally slipped to 41.22 mt year-on-year.