NMDC bets on Bailadila to increase iron ore output

To ramp up rail lines and lay pipelines to improve efficiency of transport

Public sector miner NMDC says the Bailadila sector in Chhattisgarh will contribute 64 per cent to its total iron ore production capacity by 2022.

"We are betting heavily on the Bailadila sector and are ramping up the evacuation capabilities to realise our Vision 2025," says a top official of the company.

According to the document, NMDC is aiming at striking an iron ore production capacity of 75 million tonnes per year (mtpa) by FY2019 and 100 mtpa by FY2022. Of this, 64 mtpa will come from Bailadila alone by 2021-22. The Bailadila sector has two iron ore mining complexes -- Bacheli and Kirandul.

While it has commissioned a seven million tonnes per annum (mtpa) iron ore mine 11B at Bailadila at cost of Rs 607 crore, it is also setting up a 12mtpa screening plant at a cost of Rs 951 crore to increase production at Kirandul.

However, as the present evacuation capability at the Bailadila sector is only about 28 million tonnes (mt), not just NMDC's expertise and technical capability will be put to test but also its ability to create enhanced evacuation capabilities at this sector.

"Some work on enhancing evacuation capability is already on," says the official.

NMDC has also taken up doubling of the Kirandul-Jagdalpur railway line to increase evacuation capacity by rail from Bailadila from 28 mtpa to more than 40 mtpa in the next four years. The company has entered into an understanding with the Railways for the project, likely to be commissioned by 2019. NMDC will invest Rs 1,144 crore for the project, the cost of which was locked at price of 2013.

At the Kirandul complex, it plans to construct a rapid loading system with a capacity of 14 mtpa with a merry go round railway track. The official says the 140-km Rowghat-Jagdalpur rail line, when commissioned, will further ease evacuation. IRCON has initiated the ground work for the Rs 2,000-crore project, a joint venture of NMDC, Chhattisgarh government, SAIL and IRCON.

Pipeline project

For the long-term, the official says, NMDC will set up a 15-mtpa slurry pipeline and reduce its dependency on the railway. The project will be executed in two phases -- from Bacheli to Nagarnar at an estimated outlay of Rs 4,000 crore; and from Nagarnar to Vizag at an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore. Work on phase one has started. The pipeline will transport pellet feed concentrate from Bailadila to Vizag via Jagdalpur along the highways with a provision of partial off-take to feed its proposed steel plant at Nagarnar.

The Bailadila sector -- where NMDC started mining nearly six decades ago -- has the best quality ore available globally with Fe (iron) content of more than 64 per cent. In the financial year 2014-15, it mined nearly 21 million tonnes or two-thirds of its total production of iron ore from this region.

However, even as it takes steps to ensure increased availability of iron ore, NMDC hopes for better law and order in Chhattisgarh for uninterrupted production and dispatch operations because more than 60 per cent of its production in the coming years is planned in the naxal insurgency-hit state.