Indian state-run, MOIL Limited (formerly Manganese Ore India Limited) has secured an additional manganese ore resource base of an estimated 7.65 million mt through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), a company statement said on Friday, January 15.
The company said that GMDC, through its exploration projects and core drilling up to 8,200 meters, has been able to establish new manganese deposits with recoverable mineral of around 7.65 million mt in the Pani area in the western state of Gujarat.
MOIL and GMDC has signed an MoU in 2019 laying out an agreement according to which both companies would jointly promote and undertake greenfield manganese projects and the new discovery of deposits in Gujarat would be developed under such an agreement.
Following the Gujarat discovery, both MOIL and GMDC have signed a fresh tripartite agreement with state-run Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) to undertake fresh exploration around the newly found deposit for an additional new resource base along the same geological belt.
Based on the geological data for the Pani manganese ore deposits, MOIL is now preparing a techno-economic feasibility report for an underground mining project which would be undertaken through a joint venture between MOIL and GMDC entailing an investment estimated at around $342 million, MOIL said in its statement.
