NMDC plans over ₹70,000 cr. capex to double production to 100 MT by 2030

NMDC to invest Rs.70,000 crore for 100 MT production by 2030, seeking partnerships for expansion projects.

State-owned miner NMDC will invest more than Rs.70,000 crore over the next five years on augmenting production to 100 million tonnes, building evacuation infrastructure and transforming the digital ecosystem.

“This is not business as usual, 100 million tonnes by 2030 is a priority effort for NMDC, a once in a lifetime opportunity towards building a global mining powerhouse. We are looking at a capital expenditure of approximately ₹70,000 crore,” CMD (additional charge) Amitava Mukherjee told a vendor meet the iron ore producer hosted in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The company promised ease of doing business and in return, solicited speed and quality of the highest order from the partners, NMDC said on the meeting in which besides Mr. Mukherjee, Director (Commercial) V. Suresh, Director (Technical) Vinay Kumar and senior officials interacted with contractors, consultants and vendors.

NMDC, which had clocked a record 45 MT iron ore output last fiscal, has drawn up roadmap to achieve the plan to more than double the production by the decade.

The company leadership said NMDC is exploring feasibility of partnerships for specific expansion projects to reach the ambitious 100 MT target by 2030. It aims to leverage private sector expertise, share the capital investment and establish long-term operational efficiencies.

Towards ramping up production infrastructure by 2029-30 it is proposing to invest ₹30,872 crore, a chunk of it on the mines in Bacheli and those of joint venture NCL; for rail evacuation infrastructure ₹5,863 crore; ₹18,059 crore on slurry pipeline projects; ₹4,438 crore on township infrastructure and almost ₹11,200 on miscellaneous works, bulk of which pertains to evacuation plans.

Some of the new technologies and projects the company is considering include iron ore buffer stockpile and blending yard at Viskhapatnam; in-pit crushing and conveying systems at its Donimalai as well as Bacheli mines (each ₹270 crore); and cross country conveying system from Bailadila to Kamlur/Gidam.