ET reported that the mines ministry will soon allot an iron ore lease in Karnataka's Bellary district to SAIL's Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Ltd plant, ending the company's 7 year long wait for a captive mine.

As per report, the 140 hecatre area, in the North East Block range in Sandur, could contain about 11 million tonnes of iron ore.

Located at Bhadravathi, VISL is struggling to meet its requirement of 500,000 tonnes of iron ore. The raw material that it sources from NMDC works out to INR 5,000 a tonne. Getting supplies from SAIL's mines in Jharkhand is also not a viable option as freight cost alone would add up to INR 2,800 a tonne.

Founded 90 years ago, VISL was dependent on the Kemmangundi mines, a part of which fell under the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary where mining was banned.

(Sourced from ET)