ET reported that eyeing properties overseas to meet the growing domestic demand for manganese ore, which is pegged to touch 4.5 million tonnes by 2012, the state owned Manganese Ore India Limited has invited bids from global firms to form JVs for such acquisitions.
The company said that "MOIL invites proposals on investment opportunities primarily for manganese ore and other minerals both within India and globally."
The PSU is also eyeing in domestic markets for its capacity expansion. It also invited proposals from owners of mineral concessions for participation with MOIL in development of their resources.
MOIL said that the tie up would be for supply of manganese ore to domestic ferroalloy manufacturers besides developing new and existing mines. The expression of interest would close on January 31st 2011.
MOIL, which mopped up over INR 1,000 crore through its initial public offer, which was subscribed times last month, has already announced that it is looking at acquisitions in South Africa, Turkey and Congo to meet ore demand.
The demand for manganese ore is pegged to touch 4.5 million tonnes from present 2.4 million tonnes in 2012 if the target for enhancing steel production capacity to 120 million tonnes is met. The company is exploring opportunities in South Africa with NMDC, which is India's largest iron ore producer.
Besides manganese, MOIL is also eying nickel and chromite properties abroad. Manganese ore is a key ingredient for producing steel and about 30 kilogram of ore is required to produce a tonne of steel. The country's steel output is likely to increase to 120 million tonnes by 2012 from about 70 million tonnes at present, resulting in the need for about 4.5 million tonnes of manganese ore.
MOIL at present meets 50% of the domestic requirement of the ore and plans to ramp up production within the country to 1.5 million tonnes from the existing 1.1 million tonnes by 2015 through an investment of INR 768 crore.
The company is also in the process of expanding its domestic ore reserves and plans to carry out about 50,000 meters of exploratory activities in 814 hectares of land adjacent to its existing reserves in Bhandara and Nagpur, which has been reserved for it by the Maharashtra government.
MOIL is also setting up two ferroalloy plants under JVs with SAIL and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited at a total investment of INR 150 crore. It operates 10 mines, six in Maharashtra and four in Madhya Pradesh, out of which seven are underground and three are open cast mines.
(Sourced from ET)
