| B Ramesh Kumar, chairman-cum-managing director, NMDC Limited, said the corporation was already in discussions with the governments of Syria, Senegal and Argentina for acquiring rock phosphate mines in those countries. |
| "With the growing requirement for chemical fertilisers as well as shortage of raw materials in the country, the government now wants the NMDC to explore opportunities for fertiliser-based minerals overseas. Therefore, the corporation wants to acquire mines to source these minerals for domestic fertiliser manufacturing," Kumar said. |
| This is the latest initiative for hitherto unexplored minerals coming from NMDC after it had recently forged an alliance with other public sector entities to acquire coal mines in countries such as Indonesia and Australia. |
| If this joint initiative succeeds, NMDC will take up acquisition or exploration of iron-ore mining, which has been its core area of interest, he said. |
| The corporation this year spent around Rs 30 crore on exploration activities, including the exploration of gold in Tanzania of the Rs 90-crore earmarked for this purpose. |
| Meanwhile, the annual general meeting (AGM) on Saturday formally approved the proposal to change the name of the company to NMDC Limited, which has so far been the abbreviated form of the company name. |
| The move was inspired by the modern-day philosophy of having shortened name for companies, Kumar said. The AGM also declared a final dividend of 85 per cent (Rs 112.76 crore). With this, the total dividend for the year ended March 2007 works out to 352 per cent (Rs 465.19 crore) compared with 276.62 per cent (Rs 365.58 crore) declared and paid for the previous year. |
| The corporation recently signed an MoU with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) to set up a 4-million tonne capacity integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh, using the main raw material of iron ore from Bailadila. |
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