State seeks allotment of captive mines for KIOCL

Beleaguered steel ministry undertaking KIOCL, which is struggling to survive without captive iron ore mines, received fresh support from the state for its fight to secure captive mining lease. KIOCL had suspended its mining activities at its Kudremukh mine site with effect from January 1, 2006, following a direction from the Supreme Court. Since then, the company has been sourcing iron ore from NMDC´s mines in Chhattisgarh at a higher logistic cost to run its pellet plant at Mangaluru.