National Mineral Development Corporation
Encyclopedia
The NMDC limited is a state-controlled
mineral producer of the Government of India
. It is fully owned by the Government of India and is under administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.
It is involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper
, rock phosphate, limestone
, dolomite
, gypsum
, bentonite
, magnesite
, diamond
, tin
, tungsten
, graphite
etc.
It is India's largest iron ore producer and exporter producing about 30 million tons of iron ore from 3 fully mechanised mines in Chhatisgarh and Karnataka
. It also operates the only mechanised diamond mine in the country at Panna
in Madhya Pradesh
.
Strong back up of an ISO 9001 certified R&D centre, which has been declared as the "Centre of Excellence" in the field of mineral processing by the Expert Group of UNIDO.
NMDC has made valuable and substantial contribution to the national efforts in the mineral sector during the last five decades and has been accorded the status of schedule-A Public Sector Company. The company has been recently categorized by the Department of Public Enterprises as "NAVA RATNA" Public Sector enterprise.
The story of NMDC is woven around the dreamy hills and the deep jungle land of Bastar in Chattigrah, known as Dandakaranya from the epic periods. The Bailadila iron ore range – "The hump of an ox" – in the local dialect, was remote, inaccessible and replete with wildlife. The range contains 1200 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore distributed in 14 deposits. The entire area was brought to the mainstream of civilisation by the spectacular effort of NMDC by the opening-up of mines. Today, Bailadila is a name to reckon with in the world iron ore market because of its super high grade iron ore. Bailadila complex possesses the world's best grade of hard lumpy ore having +66% iron content, with negligible deleterious material and the best physical and metallurgical properties needed for steel making.
In the past, NMDC had developed many mines like Kiriburu, Meghataburu iron ore mines in Jharkhand, Khetri Copper deposit in Rajasthan, Kudremukh Iron Ore Mine in Karnataka, phosphate deposit in Mussorie, some of which were later handed over to other companies in public sector and others became independent companies.
NMDC is presently producing about 22.8 million tonnes of iron ore from its Bailadila sector mines and 6.98 million tonnes from Donimalai sector mines.
Because of its excellent chemical and metallurgical properties, the calibrated ore from Bailadila deposits has substituted the iron ore pellets in sponge iron making and hence became an important raw material for three major gas-based sponge iron steel producers like Essar Steel
, Ispat industries Ltd and Welspun Maxsteel Ltd
. In addition to these three, the entire requirement of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is also being met from Bailadila.
The demand for steel will continue to grow in the years to come and this in turn would call for increased demand for iron ore. NMDC is gearing itself to meet the expected increase in demand by opening up new mines – Deposit-11B in Bailadila sector and Kumaraswamy in Donimalai sector and this would add in allowing the production capability to reach around 50 million tonnes per year 2014-15
NMDC is also diversifying into other raw materials for steel industry like low silica limestone. Production of Dead Burnt magnesite and further value addition is under study through its subsidiary J K Mineral Development Corporation Limited.
NMDC has taken over a Silica Sand mining and beneficiaton project from Uttar Pradesh State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd., The plant has been designed to produce high purity beneficiated silica sand of around 300,000 tonnes per year which is a raw material for production of float/sheet glass.
With a view to capture the opportunities now available following the NAVARATNA recognition and its expertise in the field of mineral exploration and mining, NMDC is venturing into development of high value minerals like gold, diamond etc., as joint ventures in some of the African countries.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between NMDC, Indian Rare Earths Limited
, (IRE) and Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation to establish a joint venture for the development of Bheemunipatnam Beach Sand. The project envisages mining of beach sands, setting up of mineral separation plant for Ilmenite concentrate and a downstream value addition plant for conversion of Ilmenite into synthetic Rutile/TiO2 slag/TiO2 pigment with pig iron as by-product.
Legacy Iron Ore(LCY) / NMDC company will acquire majority stakes in other projects in Australia, with Legacy as the vehicle to hold that interest.
Government-owned corporation
A government-owned corporation, state-owned company, state-owned entity, state enterprise, publicly owned corporation, government business enterprise, or parastatal is a legal entity created by a government to undertake commercial activities on behalf of an owner government...
mineral producer of the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. It is fully owned by the Government of India and is under administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.
It is involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, rock phosphate, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
, gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
, bentonite
Bentonite
Bentonite is an absorbent aluminium phyllosilicate, essentially impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. There are different types of bentonite, each named after the respective dominant element, such as potassium , sodium , calcium , and aluminum . Experts debate a number of nomenclatorial...
, magnesite
Magnesite
Magnesite is magnesium carbonate, MgCO3. Iron substitutes for magnesium with a complete solution series with siderite, FeCO3. Calcium, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may also occur in small amounts...
, diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
, tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
, graphite
Graphite
The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal...
etc.
It is India's largest iron ore producer and exporter producing about 30 million tons of iron ore from 3 fully mechanised mines in Chhatisgarh and Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
. It also operates the only mechanised diamond mine in the country at Panna
Panna, India
Panna is a city and a municipality in Panna district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is famous for its diamond mines. It is the administrative center of Panna District.- History :...
in Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
.
Operating mines
- Bailadila Iron Ore Mine, Kirandul Complex
- Bailadila Iron Ore Mine, Bacheli Complex
- Donimalai
- PannaPanna, IndiaPanna is a city and a municipality in Panna district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is famous for its diamond mines. It is the administrative center of Panna District.- History :...
Strong back up of an ISO 9001 certified R&D centre, which has been declared as the "Centre of Excellence" in the field of mineral processing by the Expert Group of UNIDO.
NMDC has made valuable and substantial contribution to the national efforts in the mineral sector during the last five decades and has been accorded the status of schedule-A Public Sector Company. The company has been recently categorized by the Department of Public Enterprises as "NAVA RATNA" Public Sector enterprise.
The story of NMDC is woven around the dreamy hills and the deep jungle land of Bastar in Chattigrah, known as Dandakaranya from the epic periods. The Bailadila iron ore range – "The hump of an ox" – in the local dialect, was remote, inaccessible and replete with wildlife. The range contains 1200 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore distributed in 14 deposits. The entire area was brought to the mainstream of civilisation by the spectacular effort of NMDC by the opening-up of mines. Today, Bailadila is a name to reckon with in the world iron ore market because of its super high grade iron ore. Bailadila complex possesses the world's best grade of hard lumpy ore having +66% iron content, with negligible deleterious material and the best physical and metallurgical properties needed for steel making.
In the past, NMDC had developed many mines like Kiriburu, Meghataburu iron ore mines in Jharkhand, Khetri Copper deposit in Rajasthan, Kudremukh Iron Ore Mine in Karnataka, phosphate deposit in Mussorie, some of which were later handed over to other companies in public sector and others became independent companies.
NMDC is presently producing about 22.8 million tonnes of iron ore from its Bailadila sector mines and 6.98 million tonnes from Donimalai sector mines.
Because of its excellent chemical and metallurgical properties, the calibrated ore from Bailadila deposits has substituted the iron ore pellets in sponge iron making and hence became an important raw material for three major gas-based sponge iron steel producers like Essar Steel
Essar Steel
Essar Steel is one of the leaders in the country and abroad in the steel sector. The company has a number of international centers like the Minnesota Steel LLC, a company located in the USA, Algoma Steel in Canada, Greenfield projects in Vietnam, Steel plant in Indonesia, and Integrated steel plant...
, Ispat industries Ltd and Welspun Maxsteel Ltd
Welspun Maxsteel Ltd
Welspun Maxsteel Ltd. was formed on 22 May, 2009 after Welspun Steel Ltd. completed the acquisition of Vikram Ispat, the Sponge Iron division Business of Grasim Industries Ltd. Now part of the US$ 3 billion Welspun Group, the facility was set up in 1989 with design capacity of 0.75 million tons of...
. In addition to these three, the entire requirement of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is also being met from Bailadila.
The demand for steel will continue to grow in the years to come and this in turn would call for increased demand for iron ore. NMDC is gearing itself to meet the expected increase in demand by opening up new mines – Deposit-11B in Bailadila sector and Kumaraswamy in Donimalai sector and this would add in allowing the production capability to reach around 50 million tonnes per year 2014-15
NMDC is also diversifying into other raw materials for steel industry like low silica limestone. Production of Dead Burnt magnesite and further value addition is under study through its subsidiary J K Mineral Development Corporation Limited.
NMDC has taken over a Silica Sand mining and beneficiaton project from Uttar Pradesh State Mineral Development Corporation Ltd., The plant has been designed to produce high purity beneficiated silica sand of around 300,000 tonnes per year which is a raw material for production of float/sheet glass.
With a view to capture the opportunities now available following the NAVARATNA recognition and its expertise in the field of mineral exploration and mining, NMDC is venturing into development of high value minerals like gold, diamond etc., as joint ventures in some of the African countries.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between NMDC, Indian Rare Earths Limited
Indian Rare Earths Limited
Indian Rare Earths Limited ' is a government-owned corporation in India based in Mumbai. It was incorporated as a private limited company and jointly owned by the Government of India and Government of Travancore Cochin. Government of India took control of IREL in 1963 under the administrative...
, (IRE) and Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation to establish a joint venture for the development of Bheemunipatnam Beach Sand. The project envisages mining of beach sands, setting up of mineral separation plant for Ilmenite concentrate and a downstream value addition plant for conversion of Ilmenite into synthetic Rutile/TiO2 slag/TiO2 pigment with pig iron as by-product.
NEWS
As per recent reports NMDC is planning to undertake overeas mining in Australia or USA.Legacy Iron Ore(LCY) / NMDC company will acquire majority stakes in other projects in Australia, with Legacy as the vehicle to hold that interest.