India’s Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) has been granted all mandatory clearances for its first captive iron ore mine in Keonjhar district in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, a company official said on Monday, November 21.
The official said that gaining access to its own captive raw material mine will enable NINL to save about INR 2.5 billion ($37 million) per year.
Currently, the NINL steel mill located in Odisha sources iron ore from the state-owned trading house MMTC Limited which charges steel mills the price for iron ore plus a commission for supplies made, the official said.
The NINL steel mill currently produces 500,000 mt per year of pig iron, 300,000 mt per year of billet and 300,000 mt of wire rod per year.
The captive iron ore mine with an estimated reserve of 102 million mt will be developed by NINL to produce 2 million mt per year of ore for its plant and is expected to be operational within the next two to three years, the official added.