India’s Lloyds Metal and Energy Limited (LMEL) has firmed up plans to expand its iron ore mining capacity and to construct a greenfield integrated steel mill, a company statement said on Tuesday, December 12.
The company said it will ramp up iron ore production capacity to 55 million mt per year from 10 million mt at present along with building a 45 million mt per year capacity banded hematite quartzite beneficiation plant, entailing an investment to the tune of $602 million.
The company’s board of directors has also approved construction of a 3 million mt integrated steel mill located close to its Gadchiroli iron ore block in the western state of Maharashtra, at an investment of $1.92 billion.
LMEL has also enhanced its plans for the iron ore pellet plant proposed earlier. The company will now construct two iron ore plants with a capacity of 4 million mt per year, as opposed to the earlier plan for one plant with 4 million mt per year capacity. The pellet plant project will involve a capital expenditure of $542 million.