NMDC declares fresh iron ore reserves in Karnataka mine.

National Mining Development Corp. (NMDC) has revised up the estimate of iron ore reserves in its Donimalai mine in Karnataka by almost seven times to 111 million tonnes (mt) from an earlier 17 mt, a move that would enable the state-owned mineral producer to raise production.

The revision should be a relief to iron ore-strapped steel mills and also help allay fears that combined production in Donimalai and Kumaraswamy, another NMDC mine in Karnataka, may fall to as low as 7mt per year from 9.3 mt in 2013-14.

The concerns arose after a central empowered committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court (SC) in April 2013 recommended that annual production of iron ore from each of the approved mines in Karnataka be capped at levels to ensure that resources in each of the mines last 20 years. In simpler terms, if a mine holds 100 mt of total iron ore reserves, it can annually produce upto 5 mt so that the production from the mine lasts for at least 20 years.


LIVEMINT