India’s Lloyds Metal and Energy Limited (LMEL) has been granted a new environmental clearance to ramp up the capacity of its Gadchiroli iron ore mine in the western state of Odisha to 55 million mt per year, a company regulatory filing said on Friday, June 27.
Earlier this month, LMEL had secured an environmental clearance to increase the capacity of its operational Gadchiroli mine to 26 million mt per year, from 10 million mt per year.
Once the capacity is increased to 55 million mt per year, Gadchiroli will become the largest iron ore mine in the country.
“This is a pivotal development not just for LMEL, but also for the broader steel ecosystem emerging in the Gadchiroli region,” the company said. The mine will play a key role in securing raw material for existing and upcoming steelmaking units in the area.
As part of a well-calibrated roadmap, LMEL plans to initially extract up to 26 million mt per year of hematite (Direct Sales Ore), followed by a scale-up to 55 million mt per year, including 45 million mt per year of Banded Hematite Quartzite (BHQ).
Over time, the company aims to transition from hematite DSO to beneficiated ore, backed by its world-class beneficiation facilities, LMEL said in a statement.
The company is already operating a 5 mt per hour pilot beneficiation plant yielding over 66 percent Fe content and a recovery rate of more than 35 percent.