The Chhattisgarh government has demanded that NMDC Ltd immediately start supplying iron ore to mineral-starved steel and sponge iron plants in the state and has threatened that if the state-owned m

Say it failed to make good on promises, including one related to the miner's growth

NMDC's sole foreign acquisition has hit a roadblock. A few shareholders in Australian company Legacy Iron Ore, acquired by NMDC in 2011, have sent it a notice, asking it to either fulfill the promises made during the acquisition, or leave. Speaking to Business Standard, a source close to the development said shareholders with at least 10 per cent stake in Legacy Iron Ore have threatened they would seek an extraordinary general meeting to vote out the three NMDC representatives from the Legacy Iron board.

Supreme Court-appointed CEC recommends new system in order to facilitate speedy supply of iron ore to steel mills

In an attempt to speed up supply of iron ore to steel mills, the central empowered committee (CEC) has decided to conduct advance e-auction of iron ore produced by state-run miner NMDC Ltd. The CEC, in consultation with company officials, has finalised a detailed structure for advance e-auction, which will come into effect from March 8.

The Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee, which is supervising the e-auction of iron ore in Karnataka, is likely to bring iron ore dumps for auction later this month. The committee is awaiting final approval from the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to auction about six million tonnes (mt) of dumps.

“The assessment of dumps in Bellary district has been completed and it is estimated that about six mt of dumps could be auctioned. The CEC recently visited various mines in Bellary district and took on record the dumps available for auction. However, the grading of dumps is still to be completed and once that is done, the ore could be put on auction,” sources close to the development told Business Standard.

After reducing the prices of iron ore for domestic steel mills in the October-January period, state-owned miner NMDC is considering a price rise in February.

The company’s board is likely to meet next week to decide on the issue. “The company has taken a policy decision to revise iron ore prices every month. In line with the policy, the board would meet early next week,” sources said. They added the rise could be between Rs 200 and Rs 400 a tonne and. It would be based on factors such as demand and supply, prices elsewhere and the recent rise in international prices, they said. In the past two months, prices of iron ore in the international markets have risen significantly. Currently, it is traded at $140-145 a tonne, about 61 per cent higher than in September.

The inter-ministerial committee of the Odisha government constituted to formulate a policy for offering raw materials to state based industries will seek more time for submission of its report.

Though the panel was mandated to submit its report by January 30, exactly three months after the notification dated October 30 last year, it was yet to finalize the report.

Steel industry expects availability to fall further in 2013-14, no exports recorded since November

The severe shortage in iron ore supplies from Karnataka and Goa, where mining was stopped following a Supreme Court directive, and the cap on production in Odisha have led to India becoming a net importer of iron ore this financial year. Till 2011, India was the third-largest exporter of iron ore.

SC stipulated that a max of 25 mn tn of iron ore can be extracted annually from Bellary district, 5 mn tn from Chitradurga, Tumkur district

Faced with the constraints on granting new mining leases in view of the cap on extraction of iron ore at 30 million tonne per annum, the Karnataka government has appealed to the Supreme Court to withdraw its order on limiting iron ore production. The state government, in a fresh appeal before the Apex Court recently, stated that the cap of 30 million tonnes per annum from the three mining districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur would jeopardize setting up of new steel mills in the state.

In the absence of transport network and faster envt clearances, benefits will be limited

After nearly 40 years of state ownership, the chorus of support for privatisation of coal mines is growing louder. With the economy ravenously short of coal to fire its power plants, and the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), which has a near monopoly in the sector, failing to meet the ever increasing demand from industry, the cause of privatisation is gathering strength.

Public sector iron ore miner NMDC Ltd has decided to reduce the price of lumps, iron ore with iron (Fe) content of 65 per cent by 5.9 per cent.

The price for lumps will accordingly come down by Rs. 320 a tonne from the existing Rs. 5,380 to Rs. 5,060 for the current month. Contrary to expectations, the NMDC board, which met at New Delhi on Wednesday to review the existing prices in line with the global scenario decided to reduce the prices of lumps to align the rates with landing cost of imported raw material.