India’s MOIL Limited (formerly Manganese Ore India Limited) has approved plans for the setting up pithead-based ferroalloy plants entailing combined investments to the tune of $65 million, sources said on Thursday, March 15.
The government-owned miner, the largest manganese ore producer in the country, will invest around $41 million to construct a 50,000 mt per year ferroalloy plant at its existing operational manganese mine at Balaghat in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Additionally, MOIL will also invest an estimated $24 million to set up a second ferroalloy plant at its mine at Gumgaon in the western state of Maharashtra with an installed capacity of 25,000 mt per annum. Both plant projects are scheduled for completion and start of production by 2021, the sources added.
MOIL had previously finalized plans to double its manganese ore production to 2 million mt per year by 2020, which would entail an investment of $117 million to expand its Balaghat mines.