By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 30, 2017: Kalinganagar based Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) has got the Stage-I Forest clearance for its captive mines from the Forest Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF), officials said here.

NINL has a 1.1 million tonne Integrated Iron and Steel plant at Kalinganagar, Duburi, in Jajpur district.

At present, NINL produces Steel Billets, Pig Iron and LAM Coke along with Nut Coke, Coke Breeze, Crude Tar, Ammonium Sulphate and Granulated Slag.

The captive mining lease of NINL was last executed on January 11, 2017 after obtaining necessary approval from the state government.

The mines lease of NINL, with 102 million tonnes reserves, is spread across 874 hectares at Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts.

In November, 2016, MoEF had granted the environment clearance with proposed production capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum.

However, NINL have to comply with the stipulations to obtain final (Forest Stage-II) clearance following which the Kalinga Nagar-based company would commence mining operations with capacity of two million tonnes per annum.

The availability of iron ore for its own steel plant is expected to enhance the financial position of NINL and ensure further expansion of the 1.1 MT plant, promoted by MMTC Limited, IPICOL, OMC and other government agencies.