Page 18 - Mining Industry

Manganese major MOIL sees record quarterly production in April-June 2023

The month of June saw record production of 150,000 MT, the best-ever production of any June month since its inception

Iron ore miner NMDC plans $61 mn investment to foray into gold mining

NMDC is "on track" to secure a lease for the Chigargunta-Bisanatham gold block soon, having signed a letter of intent over the project with the state government late last year

India considers lithium mining royalty at 3% of London Metal Exchange price

At least dozen cos such as Adani Enterprises, Vedanta Ltd, Reliance Industries, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Himadri Chemicals and Korea's LX International are likely to take part in auction

Cracking the investment strategy: FPIs are bullish on finance, auto stocks

Load up on financials, automotive stocks in May

State-owned coal firms taking steps to make mining sustainable: Joshi

From planting saplings to development of eco-parks, state-owned coal companies are taking various measures to reclaim abandoned mines, infusing multi-core investments, coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi said. Other initiatives of the ministry include adoption of modern technologies like gasification of coal, installation of renewable energy projects, conservation of water bodies etc, the minister told PTI in an interview. "Our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has set a vision to make India net zero by 2070. In line with his vision, our PSUs are taking various efforts to make the coal mining a sustainable exercise. We are doing our bit for climate change issue. They are spending thousands of crores to meet this goal," he said ahead of the World Environment Day on June 5. Coal India Ltd (CIL) along with with its eight subsidiary companies and NLC India Ltd function under the administrative control of the coal ministry. Joshi, who is also the minister for parliamentary affairs, added

Tata Steel Mining partners with METRON to reduce carbon footprint

Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with French Cleantech company METRON, to design and implement an advanced energy management and optimisation platform for the company's Ferro Alloys Plant located at Athagarh in Odisha's Cuttack district. METRON is a leading provider of cloud-based energy management solutions. According to the MoU, the software solution developed by METRON will enable Tata Steel Mining monitor, analyse, and optimise energy consumption in real time and reduce carbon footprint across plant utilities. A company release said that it will help digitalise energy to decarbonise territories, optimise energy consumption, reduce costs, and improve overall operational efficiency. The cloud-based energy management and optimisation platform will provide real-time visibility of energy usage across the plant, allowing Tata Steel Mining to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimise energy ...

790 million tonnes and rising: Big & small MDOs help meet coal demand

Rising electricity demand is pushing for more coal mining as thermal power continues to be the backbone of supply

Govt planning to introduce amendment bill for minerals mined offshore

The government is likely to introduce an amendment bill, which seeks to provide auction of minerals mined offshore, in the next Parliament session, sources said. "The hurdle is that the original Act for offshore mining does not provide for auctions of minerals. The auction is the policy now. So the Act needs to be amended," the sources said. The objective behind the move is to use the national wealth in the sea for the use of people of the country, they pointed out. The Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act was enacted in 2002. However, not even a single rock could be mined out from the sea-bed mainly due to pending litigations. "The consultations to amend the act are over and a bill is likely to be introduced in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament," they said. The amendments will help in realizing the natural wealth which lies with the country along its coast.

Startups must look for biz opportunities in mining sector: Mines Secretary

There are a lot of business opportunities for startups in the domestic mining sector where production worth around USD 7 billion happens annually, Mines Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said on Thursday. The sector faces several technological challenges, and the startups can explore these issues as a business opportunity for them, the official said while addressing the reporters in the national capital. In the Indian mining sector, production worth USD 7 billion happens every year. Globally, India is the 4th largest in iron ore production and 5th in bauxite. Despite this, most of the startups that are in the area of fintech, edutech, e-com etc, he said at the logo launch event of '1st Mining Start-up Summit'. On the scope for startups in the sector, Bharadwaj said the players face various technological challenges. During rains and fog, carrying out mining becomes an issue. Challenges are faced in communicating with workers in underground mines. Startups can develop technologies to overcome

Centre in talks with states for 'pre-embedded' clearance of mines

In a bid to provide ease of doing business to mining players, the Centre is in talks with five states for "pre-embedded clearances" of 21 mines, including those of iron ore, coal and lignite, mines secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said on Tuesday. The government is also in the process to enact the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002, the senior ministry official said. The government is in talks with five states, including Odisha, Rajasthan and Gujarat, for pre-embedded clearance of 21 mines, Bharadwaj told PTI in response to a question about steps being taken for early operationalisation of auctioned mines. The miners will get pre-embedded clearances for various processes included in mining, like approval of the mining plan, forest clearances, environment clearances and other regulatory clearances, he said. "The move will help in early operationalisation of the mines. It takes 5 years (minimum) to make a mine operational. This will come to one-two months," he sai

Tata Steel signs business cooperation agreement with A&B Global Mining

Tata Steel on Thursday said it has signed an agreement with A&B Global Mining to harness new business development opportunities and deliver mine technical services. The steel major will closely work with ABGM India which will interface with their South African entity to explore business opportunities in India and abroad besides utilise each other's technical and strategic strengths to deliver projects across the mining and metals, including the steel value chain, a company statement said. ABGM will also collaborate with Tata Steel to deliver competitive integrated business solutions to the global mining industry, it said. "We started offering mine technical services commercially to the mining industry along with our partners, and this agreement will further complement our capabilities and capacities to raise the standards of such services in India in particular and internationally in general for more scientific and sustainable mine development, Tata Steel vice president (raw ...

Vedanta Resources cuts gross debt by $1 bn by paying its maturing loans

Vedanta Resources Limited (Vedanta), the parent company of Mumbai-listed mining giant Vedanta Ltd, on Monday said it has paid all its maturing loans and bonds due in this month to reduce its gross debt by a further USD 1 billion. Vedanta has now reduced debt by a total of USD 3 billion since it announced in February 2022 its intention to accelerate deleveraging. It had announced plans to reduce debt by USD 4 billion within 3 years. "Vedanta has thereby achieved 75 per cent of its committed reduction in just 14 months," the firm said in a statement. The firm's gross debt now stands at USD 6.8 billion, down from USD 7.8 billion at the end of March 2023 and from USD 9.7 billion at the end of March 2022. "During the balance of FY24, we believe that strong operational performance from our world class asset base coupled with robust commodity prices will lead to further deleveraging at Vedanta," the statement said.

Chhattisgarh earns record mineral revenue of Rs 12,941 cr in 2022-23

Chhattisgarh has earned record revenue of Rs 12,941 crore from minerals for the year 2022-23, a rise of Rs 636 crore from the previous fiscal, a state government official said on Sunday. Iron ore fetched the highest Rs 3,607 crore followed by Rs 3,336 crore from coal, while Danetwada was the top-earning district in terms of mineral revenue, a press release from the state government said. "Limestone and bauxite too fetched sizable revenue. Dantewada contributed Rs 6419 crore, followed by Korba Rs 2361 crore, Raigarh Rs 1717 crore, Balod Rs 760 crore, Baloda Bazar Rs 315 crore, Kanker Rs 286 crore and Surguja Rs 262 crore," an official said. "The state government has auctioned 29 mineral blocks in Chhattisgarh on revenue sharing mode, which in the coming years will fetch the state Rs 1 lakh crore," said Anurag Diwan, Joint Director, Geology and Mining. For the first time under the revenue sharing system, the state government was able to earn Rs 52.52 lakh by participating in two ...

State-owned Coal India eyes digital transformation of mining operations

State-owned CIL on Friday said it has conceptualised a mega digital transformation programme to "reimagine" its mining operations. The move will help achieve the target of 1 billion tonnes (BT) of coal production by FY26. The coal behemoth launched the 'Project Digicoal' and a 'Digital War-Room' to monitor and assist this project at its headquarter in Kolkata. This project will help Coal India's (CIL) mining operations become future ready using advanced digital solutions, the public-sector unit said in a statement. "With the launch, the project went live in seven coal mines of CIL encompassing Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda mines in SECL and Nigahi, Jayant, Dudhichua and Khadia mines in NCL," it said. CIL has roped in Accenture as its consultant to design and implement the project. "Launch of 'Project Digicoal' is an important milestone of digitalisation in CIL. This project will help make the processes efficient," CIL Chairman Pramod Agrawal said while launching the project. "The pr

Western Australia to improve ties with India, focus on green tech: Minister

Australian state 'uniquely placed' to work with India for energy transition, says Stephen Dawson

Government successfully bids out 29 coal blocks for commercial mining

The ministry launched the auction of coal reserves for commercial mining in the sixth round and second attempt of fifth round on November 3, 2022

Technology enhances responsible mining

New technologies have already been deployed in various mining projects. Some coal companies use robot-assisted firefighting and dust suppression technology

Govt may auction six mineral blocks in February, to boost mining sector

The government is likely to put on sale six mineral blocks, including four iron ore mines, in the current month. The move would give a boost to mining sector's contribution to the country's gross domestic product. The four iron ore blocks, situated in Chhattisgarh, are likely to be auctioned on Tuesday, according to the mines ministry. The notice inviting tenders for the mines -- Chhitpuri B iron ore block, Gomter Wakeli, Bijapur, Hahaladdi, North Bastar Kanker, Lohhater, North Bastar Kanker -- were floated last year. The auction of Bandiamottu block in Andhra Pradesh, which has lead and associated minerals such as nickel, cobalt and copper, is also likely to be conducted in February. The notice inviting tender for the block was issued in December last year. Besides, the auction of Udagi Block -- a limestone mine in Karnataka -- has also been extended to be held in February, the ministry said. Since the new procedure for auctioning of mineral blocks was introduced in 2015, a t

Mines ministry in process of identifying mineral blocks in sea: Secretary

The government is in the process of identifying mineral blocks like nickel in the sea and would gradually put them on sale, mines secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said on Friday. The mines ministry is amending the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002 and has sought the stakeholders' views on the same. "Because the critical minerals are becoming even more critical, there is this thought that why are we not mining in the oceans...Unfortunately we have not been able to mine the oceans. Now we are amending the Act. It is in public domain, open for comments for the industry, the stakeholders," the mines secretary said during Metal & Metallurgy Expo-2023 organised by CII. The ministry, he said, is in the process of identifying these blocks in the sea and as there are no stakes in there, the auction will be done by the government of India. "That will also be a huge opportunity for industry, a totally new area of operations," he explained. Critical minerals such as ...

Mine over matter: Who will dig up India's new-found Lithium reserve?

The absence of an integrated mining policy for strategic metals and minerals and poor domestic capabilities could hinder exploitation of the recently discovered reserves