NMDC ltd and Indian Rare Earths limited (IREl) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday at NMDC headquarters in Hyderabad, a company press release informed.
PK Satpathy, Director (Production), NMDC and Mohapatra, Director (Technical), IREl signed in the presence of N Baijendra Kumar, IAS, CMD, NMDC and D Singh, CMD, IREl, Dr Narendra K Nanda, Director (Technical); Dr TRK Rao, Director (Commercial); DS Ahluwalia, Director (Finance); Sandeep Tula, Director (Personnel) and other senior officials from NMDC and IREl were also present at the signing ceremony.
Rare Earth Elements (REE) are used extensively in almost every conceivable advanced technology products and also have commercial, industrial and military applications. China has a monopoly meeting 95% of the global demand. Domestically, IREl is the sole producer of REE compounds.
The ever increasing demand for REE necessitates a concerted effort to augment the resource position of our country and also explore opportunities for acquisition / sourcing from abroad.
Through this MoU, NMDC and IREl together propose to explore opportunities in rare earths in India and abroad and also in setting up downstream value chain for RE products.
During the MoU signing ceremony Baijendra Kumar expressed happiness over NMDC and IREl coming together for meeting the country’s demand of the strategic and critical raw material.