NMDC commissions iron ore processing plant in Bastar UPDATED

Hyderabad: NMDC Ltd has commissioned its 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) pellet plant at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh, as part of a Rs 5,427-crore integrated project of iron ore processing, pipeline and pellet making connecting its iron ore operations at Bacheli with the company's steel plant at Nagarnar.

The project includes a new iron ore processing plant at Bacheli, a 15 MTPA slurry pipeline and the 2 MTPA pellet plant at Nagarnar. The 135 km slurry pipeline carries processed iron ore concentrate from Bacheli to Nagarnar, providing an alternative to transporting the material by road.

The maiden production from the pellet plant was monitored live from NMDC's headquarters by CMD Amitava Mukherjee and the company's senior leadership, as adverse weather conditions prevented them from travelling to the project site. The facilities will enable NMDC to process iron ore fines and slimes from its Bailadila mines into concentrate and subsequently convert the concentrate into pellets.

"Today is a day of immense pride for everyone at NMDC. This has not been an easy project to execute. It involved the processing facilities, the actual slurry pipeline and the pellet plant. But today is a red-letter day—a day we have been waiting for a long time. This is the day when our collective dream is coming true," Amitava Mukherjee said.

The commissioning strengthens NMDC's presence across the iron ore value chain, from mining and beneficiation to slurry transportation and pellet production. It also adds a new value-added product to the company's portfolio and allows it to make greater use of iron ore fines and slimes generated from its Bailadila operations.

The project is part of NMDC's broader expansion and diversification strategy as the company works towards increasing its iron ore production capacity to 100 million tonnes in the long term.