KIOCL bounces back, meets ministry target

KIOCL bounces back, meets ministry target

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, April 14, 2017: Kudremukh Iron Ore Company, a central public sector undertaking, has made a phenomenal recouvery in meeting the target for the previous fiscal set by the steel ministry.

The company produced 14.6 lakh tons of pellets, a performance that bettered those of the previous two years. This is a huge bounce-back, particularly from 2015-16 when the production had slumped to 1 lakh tons.

The Kudremkh company is a pioneer in turning iron ore into a higher-grade product and also converting it into pellets.

The company has produced 2.8 lakh tons of pellets in January and March 2017 — the highest monthly output in five years. The company is confident of surpassing pellet sales of the past two years, having dispatched 13.86 lakh DMT (or dry metric tonnes) with 26 shipments, which includes 16 export and 10 domestic shipments, according to the company’s chairman and managing director Malay Chatterjee.

The group has run the pelletisation plant for 181 days, registering profits in the previous fiscal and producing 14.64 lakh tons of pellets. Malay Chatterjee said the company is set for financial rejuvenation, having been allotted an iron ore mine spread over 474 hectares at Devadari range in Ballari district in the state.


Two joint ventures — one each in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal — will boost the company’s mining confidence and also facilitate the company’s bid to earn revenue through the exploration and engineering wing. This is possible as two mineral blocks have been allotted in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by the Union ministry of mines under the non-profit National Mineral Exploration Trust programme.


During the previous fiscal, the operation and maintenance vertical of the company facilitated substantial earnings. This contributed to the bottom line, with revenue coming in from Donimalai and Kaliapani projects.


In the current year, Malay Chatterjee said, the company will focus on its capex (capital expenditure) utilization to generate profit and also ensure it meets targets set by the ministry.