Hopeful to achieve iron-ore production target of 44 Million Tonne
Team News Riveting
Raipur, August 23
National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) plans to start coal production in its mines allotted in the state of Jharkhand by the end of second quarter (Q2) or in the third quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2021-22 (FY22).
Country’s largest iron-ore producer and exporter is venturing into coal mining. In 2019, the Union Ministry of Coal had allocated two coal blocks to NMDC under Section 5(1) of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015. The two blocks Rohne and Tokisud North— situated at an aerial distance of 10-15 km apart — are located at Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.
Rohne coal block has extractable reserves of 191 million tonnes (MT) and planned production capacity of 8 million tonnes per annum, and the Tokisud North coal block has extractable reserves of about 52 MT of thermal coal and planned production capacity of 2.32 million tonnes per annum.
“Monsoon season albeit a little bit of aberration, otherwise we believe the demand shall be strong. There is a lot of demand in the market and we believe that things will work out in terms of production and sales also,” Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NMDC Sumit Deb said. He was speaking during the Q1 FY22 earnings conference call.
“That is the scene we are planning to start our coal mining operations in Jharkhand from Q2 end or Q3,” Deb said. That also will add on to NMDC’s bottom line, he said, adding that the company has been in discussion with the state governments for additional mining blocks. “So, things are looking good for us (NMDC),” he added.
The NMDC CMD said, “It has been a great quarter for NMDC in terms of iron ore sales, profits.” The company has in fact broken all sorts of records in the Q1 in terms of production that surged by 35 per cent, an all-time high while the revenue from operations was pegged at Rs 6500 crore, a whopping 236 per cent growth compared to Q1 of previous year.
“Obviously, we believe that things will continue in this fashion especially in terms of production,” Deb said. The NMDC had set a target of 44 million tonne and was hopeful to achieve it, he added.
