New Delhi: Union Minister of Steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh reviewed the production of manganese ore in India on Thursday with Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) and directed the PSU to raise production in order to facilitate 300 Million Tonne steel production in the country by 2030. The Minister of State (MoS) for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste and senior officers of the ministry were present. The minister directed MOIL to take steps immediately to increase the production of manganese ore up to the level of available environment clearance (EC) limit and also to complete the ongoing projects at the earliest without any further delay.

MOIL officials informed that the total reserves of manganese ore in the country are placed at 93 million tonnes, out of which MOIL accounts for 33.14 Million Tonnes (about 36 percent). The resources of manganese ore are distributed in various districts in 10 states: Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and West Bengal. MOIL has operations at present in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and has produced 11.43 lakh tonnes out of 24.8 lakh tonnes of total India's production during the year 2020-21.

As per National Steel Policy, 2017, the projected capacity of crude steel will be 300 million tonnes. The requirement of manganese ore for catering to this domestic demand of steel would be 6.50 MMT by 2030. However, taking into consideration the manganese ore requirement for export of ferroalloys of about 1.40 million MT, the total requirement of manganese ore will be 10 MMT by 2030. Out of this, MOIL has planned to increase its production to 3.5 MMT by the year 2029-30.

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