By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Union Minister of Steel Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh reviewed the development of production of manganese ore in India in New Delhi on Thursday with Manganese Ore India Ltd. (MOIL). The Minister of State of Steel and Rural Development, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste and senior officers of the Ministry were present.
The Steel Minister directed MOIL to take steps immediately to increase production of Manganese ore up to the level of available Environment Clearance (EC) Limit and also to complete the ongoing projects at the earliest without any further delay.
MOIL officials informed that the total reserves of manganese ore in the country are placed at 93 Million Tons out of which MOIL accounts for 33.14 Million Tons (about 36%). The resources of manganese ore are distributed in various districts in ten States namely Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal. MOIL has operations at present in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and produced 11.43 lakh ton out of 24.8 lakh ton of total India’s production during the year 2020-21.
As per National Steel Policy, 2017, the projected capacity crude steel will be 300 million ton, the requirement of manganese ore for catering to this domestic demand of steel would be 6.50 Million MT by 2030. However, taking into consideration the manganese ore requirement for export of ferro alloys of about 1.40 Million MT, the total requirement of manganese ore will be 10 million MT by 2030. Out of this, MOIL has planned to increase its production to 3.5 million MT by the year 2029-30.
