NMDC to up production in Bellary

Steel Secretary P K Mishra told reporters here that the company will increase its production capacity to one million tonne a month.

NMDC is the only company allowed to continue its mining in Bellary district by the Supreme Court while it imposed a mining ban across the district as an environmental protection measure.  

Steel makers mainly based in Karnataka have expressed their concern over the shortage of raw material due to the mining ban and asked the government to act quickly to resolve the problem.

Bellary accounts for about 80 per cent of Karnataka’s total production at about 40 million tonne annually. The industry has been arguing that the partial relief provided by the apex court on August 5, which allowed only state-run NMDC to mine one million tonne of ore a month, would not meet the demand.

Mishra said NMDC is gearing up by moving machinery and manpower to increase its output from Bellary region.

According to Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, iron ore demand of the steel and allied industry in Karnataka alone is 2.9 million tonne a month, while NMDC has been allowed to mine only 1 million tonne a month.

The chamber said that the firm has been supplying only in the range of 21,000-22,000 tonne a day against the estimated daily production of 33,500 tonne, to fulfill the commitment of producing 1 million tonne a month, as ordered by the apex court.