 "Moil Ltd")
Manganese Ore India Limited (MOIL) has drawn up an ambitious expansion strategy with a plan to infuse Rs 1,600 crore over the next five years.
The company said it is planning to invest Rs 430 crore in mining projects, Rs 300 crore in solar and wind energy, Rs 200 crore in new area development and townships each respectively and Rs 300 crore on procurement of machinery, among others over next five years.
Already a market leader, the miniratna rated PSU aims to continue its dominance by scaling up production to two million tonnes (MT) per annum, almost doubling its current capacity.
Besides ongoing projects where production is being ramped up, MOIL has secured mining land lease of 1,322 hectares in Vidarbha which has rich deposits. In neighbouring Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, the process to get mining licences are progressing at a brisk pace, a top MOIL official said.
This will lead to a huge asset creation for the future, taking volume of mining land up by 80% from the existing mines in around 1,564 hectares, the official said.
The company, under the Union Steel Ministry, listed six years ago has 6,400 employees.
"The board of directors of the company met earlier this week in Bhopal and gave approval for investing Rs 265 crore to enhance capacity of Balaghat mines from 0.3 MT to 0.6 MT by sinking a high-speed large-diameter vertical shaft with depth of 750 meters," MOIL Chairman-cum-Managing Director, G P Kundargi, told PTI.
The board also cleared a decision to invest Rs 195 crore for a high-speed shaft at Gumgaon mine in Nagpur district to double the output from 0.7 MT to 1.40 MT per annum.
Our long-term plan envisages investment of Rs 2,858 crore by 2024-25 to take up manganese production to 2.5 MT, said Kundargi.
Despite a slowdown in the steel sector, which consumes 95 per cent of manganese output, Kundargi is confident that MOIL's capacity increase would be viable and necessary as demand in market is growing at the rate of 10% while domestic production is growing at 2.8%.
Kundargi has been at the helm of the company for the last three years and he is due for superannuation in September, this year. Director (Finance) Mukund Chaudhary has been named as successor.
The single largest producer of manganese ore which is the main raw material in ferro-alloys, MOIL currently operates 10 mines -- six in Vidarbha (Nagpur and Bhandara districts) and four in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh where it has Asia's deepest mining sites.
It has diversified into non-conventional energy sector and has a 20 MW wind power farm at Dewas near Indore in Madhya Pradesh, and now planning a 10.5 MW of solar power production, Kundergi added.
