The year 2017-18 has been the best performing one till date for the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) limited. The company, regarded as an exemplar model of CSR activities, has undertaken many new initiatives to achieve its “Vision 2025.” The chairman and managing director of NMDC, N. Baijendra Kumar, discusses the upcoming projects with Ankita Saxena
This is the diamond jubilee year of NMDC. What have been the achievements so farij
The performance of NMDC last year has been the best since the inception of the company. The company is committed to do well and with little motivation from the management in the right direction, we have performed the best so far. During 2017-18, the company recorded a turnover of Rs 11,615 crore as against Rs 8830 crore in the previous year, registering a growth of 32 per cent. We achieved a profit before tax (PBT) from continuing operations of Rs 6,180 crore and the profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 3,806 crore. We achieved the highest ever record production of 355.76 lT and sales of 360.75 lT since the inception of the company. The net worth of the company stood at Rs 24,354 crore as on March 31, which was 8.15 per cent higher than the previous financial year.
What are some of the new projects being undertaken by NMDCij
NMDC has made a comprehensive plan to enhance iron ore production capacity to 67 MTPA by FY-22 to meet the growing requirements of iron ore of the Indian steel sector. The strategy focuses on growth largely through brown-field expansion of existing mines and improving evacuation. The development of a green-field mine (Deposit 13) has been planned through a joint venture with the Chhattisgarh State Mining Development Corporation. NMDC is also in the process of setting up a slurry pipeline in phases for evacuation of iron ore at economical cost to such locations from where the pellets/ore are made available to the industry. This is the first time that NMDC is going to undertake gold mining in India. We are the highest bidder in the e-auction for the gold mine located in Andhra Pradesh.
Efforts to increase evacuation capacity through doubling of Kirandul-Kothavalasa (KK) line is also in full swing. NMDC is developing iron ore stockyards in Chhattisgarh for uninterrupted supplies. Besides, as a part of its diversification and forward integration plan, the company is setting up a 3 MTPA green-field steel plant at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh. We have also forayed in pellet-making with a 1.2 MTPA pellet plant at Donimalai. Another 2 MTPA pellet plant is in the works at Nagarnar. NMDC is promoting Steel SPVs for setting up of new steel plants in the state of Karnataka and Jharkhand. This initiative is under a collaborative approach of the Ministry of Steel and the respective state governments. The Steel SPVs shall acquire land, seek water and power allocation and iron ore linkage to set up the steel plant and then invite a strategic partner to develop and construct it.
What are some of the overseas projects of NMDCij
We have a majority stake (78.56 per cent) in the Australian company—legacy Iron Ore, which is carrying out exploration in its 19 exploration tenements in Western Australia in iron ore, gold and base metals. legacy also applied for allocation of tenements for tungsten in Western Australia. International Coal Ventures Pvt. ltd. acquired a coking/thermal coal mine in Mozambique in 2014 and operation of the same was taken over by ICVl. It undertook strategic review of Benga operations and re-started the mining operations with new contracts from November 2017. Benga mine is presently operational with approximately 100 per cent capacity utilisation. We are also working towards setting up of a pilot-scale processing plant for gold in our mining lease in Tanzania. Tungsten metal is of strategic importance due to its essential requirement in defense and aerospace sector and currently India meets its entire requirement through imports. NMDC has entered into MoUs with both the MIDHANI and DMRl to explore tungsten investment opportunities in India and abroad.
How is NMDC supporting the new Corporate Sports Policy for CPSEsij
Till now we have been using our CSR funds to develop and promote sports facilities. Now, with the Corporate Sports Policy for CPSEs under the Ministry of Steel, we will earmark a certain amount according to various categories as mentioned in the policy. We are giving Rs 1 crore to the Apex Sports Body (ASB) and the smaller companies will give Rs 60 lakh which the ASB will then use for various purposes like sponsoring sportspersons for international events, registration, affiliation and so on. The sports categories listed in the policy are indicative. If anyone wants to open an academy for a different sport after fulfilling the pre-requisites, then we will support them as well. For example, the tribal areas have talented archers and shooters and we will try to promote these sports through dedicated academies for the tribal communities.
NMDC has been undertaking many CSR activities. Please elaborate on some initiatives
We have been getting the best CSR award from all over the world. NMDC is the model PSE in the field of CSR and its model of stakeholder consultation mechanism for implementation has been recommended by theDepartment of Public Enterprises, Government of India, for emulation by all other CPSEs. We have been spending around Rs 150-190 crore on CSR projects. We have done outstanding work in the education sector in Dantewada, which the Prime Minster Narendra Modi visited himself. We spend almost 2.5 per cent of our profits on CSR especially on education and health.
NMDC has been investing substantially in developing social infrastructure such as educational institutes, sanitation, healthcare, drinking water, infrastructure development and employable skill development, integrated village development, and so on, primarily in the peripheral areas of its operations.
How is NMDC fostering research and development in the mining sectorij
Research and development has been a key focus of NMDC and we have been spending a fair share on developing new technologies. NMDC operates a state-of-the-art research and development centre at Hyderabad, which has been declared as a “Centre of Excellence” by the UNIDO. The R&D department undertakes various projects related to the operational problems of the units of NMDC and provides solutions to improve the system or suggest changes in technology to better its processes and operations. The R&D centre also provides solutions to the external agencies. For example, a pilot plant for iron-making by adoption of MATMOR technology is envisaged in research collaboration mode between NMDC, NlC and ECT. The MATMOR technology is a unique alternate iron- making method for producing high-quality iron from inexpensive, abundant lignite (brown coal) and high or low grade iron ore/mill scale etc. The technology patent is owned by ECT, Australia. NMDC's Global Exploration Centre at Raipur is continuously doing explorations in the mines of NMDC and adding new reserves every year. The company has offered the state governments to undertake free exploration to quantify mineral resources in the respective states.
