The ASIA Miner - Reporting Important Issues to Mining Companies in the Asia Pacific Region
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40 | ASIA Miner | Volume 13 • Issue 1 | 2016 India NMDC Limited has set an ambitious target of almost doubling its annual iron ore mining capacity to 75 million tonnes in the next two years compared to its current capacity of around 34 million tonnes. The public sector company produced 30.4 million tonnes in the last fnancial year. The target is part of NMDC's Vision 2025 plan that seeks to reorient its business mod- el, retain market leadership in the domestic market and make a mark on the global min- ing scene in order to ensure raw material security for Indian industry. NMDC's CMD Narendra Kothari said apart from increasing annual mining capacity to 75 million tonnes by 2018-19 and to 100 million tonnes by 2021-22, Vision 2025 sets the objectives of strengthening ex- ploration and forward-integration through value added business in pellet making and steel as well as selectively investing abroad based on mining potential and the prevailing business environment. He expressed confdence in the growth of India's steel industry and expressed NMDC's intent to align its operations with the growth of the domestic steel industry, capitalizing on its growth potential in the years to come 'that would translate into higher domestic appetite for iron ore'. Besides addition of capacity, he said. "Vision 2025 set the objectives of strength- ening exploration and forward-integration through value added businesses in pellet making and steel, strategically diversifying into commodities other than iron ore based on growth potential and its relevance to NMDC and signifcance to the country, and selectively invest abroad based on mining potential and the prevailing business envi- ronment." NMDC's new road map has six strategic areas - business strategy, operations strat- egy, sustainability, capital projects, human resource and IT. Recently the company incorporated Jharkhand Kolhan Steel, a wholly-owned subsidiary company, to facilitate devel- opment of a steel plant in the state of Jharkhand. The company said it would build the steel facility through the special-pur- pose-vehicle (SPV) route. NMDC was formed in 1958 as a Govern- ment of India fully-owned public enterprise and is the nation's single largest iron ore producer, presently producing from three fully mechanized mines - Bailadila Depos- it-14/11C and Bailadila Deposit-5, 10/11A in Chhattisgarh State and Donimalai Iron Ore Mines in Karnataka State. Since its inception NMDC has been in- volved in exploration for a wide range of minerals including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tung- sten, graphite and beach sands. INDIA and Australia have fnalized a deal that will see India import uranium from Australia for civilian purposes. The India Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement deal took three years to come to fruition and was announced in November by the Prime Ministers of the two countries, Narendra Modi and Malcolm Turnbull, while they were attending the G20 summit in Turkey. The seeds of this arrangement were sown in 2012 by then Aus- tralian PM Julia Gillard, who promised during an Indian state visit to supply uranium to India. It was proposed due to the severe short- ages of electricity which continue to hinder the developing nation. Two years later the previous Australian PM Tony Abbott signed a memorandum of understanding for 'Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy' whereby Australia would become a long- term supplier of uranium to India. Australia has about 40% of the world's uranium reserves and is the number three producer of the nuclear fuel, behind Kazakhstan and Canada. The agreement will see India become the frst country to buy yel- lowcake from Australia that has not signed the international treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. While India faced Western sanctions in 1998 after testing nuclear weapons, these were lifted after a deal with the USA in 2008 that included safeguards against using the nuclear fuel for weapons production. According to the World Nuclear Association, India has 21 operat- ing reactors with a capacity of 4780 megawatts, or 2% of India's to- tal power supply. It plans to increase its nuclear capacity to 63,000 MW by 2032, by adding close to 30 reactors at a cost of $85 billion. As a result India is seeking agreements with foreign countries on top of the nuclear agreements it has with 11 countries and deals to import uranium from Russia, France, Kazakhstan and Canada. Concerned about running out of nuclear fuel, in July India created a strategic uranium reserve to ensure its atomic reactors can keep producing electricity without interruption. An Australian parliamentary committee that supported the deal said in September that the arrangement could increase export rev- enues by $1.75 billion. Australian Uranium Council chair Mark Chalmers told the media that Australia could double or triple its uranium production to meet India's needs, although for that to happen, the price of uranium would have to almost double. India forges Australian uranium deal One of NMDC's mining operations in India. State- owned NMDC is India's largest iron ore producer. NMDC aims to double iron ore output