Economic Times reported that state owned iron ore miner NMDC will invest INR 30,071 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan period, which started on April 1 this year, to achieve a production capacity of 50 million tonnes by 2016-17 and establishing steel and other value added plants.

Of this, most of the money will be invested on developing Bailadila iron ore mines in Chhattisgarh and constructing a 3 million tonne steel plant at nearby Nagarnar in the state.

A senior company official said, adding that both the projects are scheduled to be commissioned in 2014-15.

The official said that "The plan is to expand the iron ore mining capacity to 36 million tonnes per annum by 2014-15 from existing 20 million tonnes per annum capacity at Bailadila mines. The steel plant will also be commissioned by then and most of the money will be spent on these two projects.”

The official added that besides, the iron ore miner is also aiming at achieving a production capacity of 7 million tonnes per annum at Kuamaraswamy mines in Karnataka by September, 2013 at an investment of INR 900 crore.

Moreover, NMDC is also looking at commissioning 1.2 MTPA iron ore pellet plant in Karnataka's Donimalai by March next year and starting coal production from its captive mine at Madhya Pradesh's Shahpur by 2014.

Source - Economic Times

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