State-run behemoth Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limted’s (RINL) thirst for raw material security seems to be insatiable as it has now set its sight on merging the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) and has pledged to optimise synergy between both plants. RINL had recently won the government’s approval for merging Orissa Mining Development Corporation with itself.

“We are keen to merge KIOCL with us, especially as it would be a backward integration for us. With an estimated magnetite ore reserve of nearly 10 billion tonne, KIOCL would give us the much-needed raw material security. We will be approaching the steel ministry soon in this connection,” RINL chairman and managing director RINL P K Bishnoi told The Indian Express.

Mining activities at the worksite at Kudremukh, 110 km from Mangalore, came to halt from the end of 2005 with the Supreme Court confirming the status of Kudremukh National Park area over the present mines at Kudremukh. The Company’s Mangalore units of pellet plant and blast furnace units are running with the outsourced haematite iron ore to convert into iron oxide pellets.

“We would do the needful to optimise the utilisation of their pelletisation plant. For the beneficiation plant and the mines, we would make a suitable representation in the court and plead for enabling KIOCL to utilise the ore after taking all necessary environmental safeguards,” Bishnoi pointed out. He reasoned that both the plants are located in the coastal zone and hence shipping their produce was a very viable proposition.

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