BS reported that Indian public sector company Manganese Ore India Limited has taken up INR 900 crore capital expenditure plan over the next 3 to 4 years.
Mr KJ Singh CMD of MOIL said that "We plan to expand value added production capacity and to enter into joint ventures with Steel Authority of India Limited and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited to set up ferroalloy plants in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh."
He added that MOIL will invest INR 100 crore in SAIL JV and INR 50 crore in RINL JV, apart from INR 768 crore in mining expansion over the next 3 to 4 years period.
Mr Singh said that both 50:50 JVs with SAIL at Chhattisgarh and RINL at Andhra Pradesh to set up ferroalloy plants will cost INR 392 crore and INR 206 crore, respectively. Both the plants will produce ferromanganese and silicomanganese in order to secure further potential sources of demand for our high grade manganese ore.
He added that "We are committed to maintaining our leadership position in the Indian manganese ore market by increasing our production capacity in line with demand growth, focusing on our value added product line to capture industry trends, controlling costs and strengthening relationships with our customers."
Mr Singh said that the Indian steel industry is expected to continue to advance on a strong growth trajectory and the total installed domestic capacity is anticipated to be 121 million tonnes by 2011-2012. This is expected to result in continued demand for manganese ore.
He added that "To meet rising demand, we plan to expand our manganese ore production capacity at our existing mines. We are looking at deepening of the production shaft at the Balaghat mine and Gumgaon mine and sinking of the vertical shaft at the Munsar mine. This will help in expansion as well as to sustain our production capacity for manganese ore. We estimate that these projects would increase our total production capacity to 1.5 million tonnes by 2015. We have committed INR 49.81 crore in capital expenditure in connection with these expansion projects."
He said that MOIL also intends to add to its current reserves and resources by undertaking exploration in and around its existing lease areas. He added that "The company has applied for a prospecting license for mining in approximately 814.71 hectares in Maharashtra. In addition, it is engaged in ongoing exploration efforts in portions of our approximately 1,798.9 hectares of land already held under long term mining leases in relation to its existing mining complexes."
He added that the company hopes to receive permission from Securities and Exchange Board of India for its proposed IPO shortly. The central government is divesting 10%, while Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh state governments will be divesting 5% each.
(Sourced from www.business-standard.com)
