For the first time in its history, the public sector mining major, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), has produced more than 30 million tonnes of iron ore in a single year.
The NMDC has registered iron ore production of around 30.18 million tonnes which is approximately 11% more than last year. The iron ore sales for the company stood at 30.50 million tonnes which is approximately 16% more than last year, a company press release said here on Friday.
The production of diamonds from India’s only diamond mine being operated by the NMDC in Panna, Madhya Pradesh, also registered a remarkable growth of 17% at 37,047 carats compared to 31,533 carats during the corresponding period of last year (CPlY), it stated.
Pursuing its capital investment schemes, as against an envisaged target of Rs 2720 crore for the year 2013-14, the company has incurred Rs 2518 crore for its various expansion and diversification projects which is 57% more than CPlY.
Deposit-11B Iron Ore Project and Kumaraswamy Iron Ore Mine, as part of its expansion programme and the installation of 3 MTPA steel plant at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh, as part of NMDC’s forward integration programme and value addition, are in various stages of execution.
Incidentally, Chairman, NMDC, CS Verma received the ‘Most Efficient Navratna’ award for the company from TKA Nair, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, on April 2, 2014. It is pertinent to mention that the NMDC is one of the lowest cost producers of iron ore in the world with very high EBITDA margins, the press release stated.
The NMDC CMD CS Verma commended the performance of the company and congratulated the employees for surpassing the 30 MT mark in iron ore production and sales and urged them to grow exponentially to cope up with demand of the steel industry.