NMDC targets 46 mn tonnes of iron ore production in FY23

Hyderabad: State-owned miner NMDC Ltd targets to achieve 46 million tonnes of Iron ore production in the current fiscal, 10 per cent higher than that of last year, Chairman and Managing Director, Sumit Deb said.

The company achieved production of 42.19 MT and sales of 40.56 MT in FY22 with a turnover of Rs 25,882 crore.

“On the back of the developments mentioned above at the Bacheli mine, Kumaraswamy mine and other mines, we target production of 460 lakh tonnes of iron ore in FY23. This volume is about 10 per cent higher than in FY22 and would provide a cushion against possible pressure on pricing and we hope to maintain and surpass the top line again in FY23,” Deb said in the latest annual report.

He also said the company expects the demerger of its three-MT Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh is expected to complete in the current year as its application for demerger has been accepted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and as directed by them, NMDC also held the meetings of Unsecured creditors and Shareholders of our company in June 2022.

We have obtained the No Objection Certificate from the stock exchanges… We expect to complete the demerger within FY23,” he said.

He further said NMDC has appointed new consultant for the fifth line of screening and the downhill conveyor augmentation project at Bacheli mine, which is expected to be ready in the current year and add about 2.5 MT of production.

Though the outlook for the iron ore market is not encouraging in short term, long-term demand for iron is expected to be positive, he said on the global demand for iron ore.

In terms of output of a country in 2021, with 900 MT, Australia continued to be the largest producer of iron ore. Whereas, India’s production was 240 MT and emerged as the fourth largest country after Brazil (380 MT) and China (360 MT), he added.