For setting up beneficiation and pellet plants at Nemalkal and Hiradahalu villages in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL). KIOCL is a Bngalore-based public sector undertaking. The plants will have a capacity of 1.2 million tonne a year each depending on the availability of iron ore. KIOCL will invest Rs 1,000-1,500 crore in this project, according to a press release.    

KIOCL Chairman Malay Chatterjee said that the ground-breaking ceremony will take place during the middle of August and it will take 36 months to begin production of iron ore and commissioning of the plants. The project will provide direct and indirect employment to about 3,500 people, he said. KIOCL is among the three public sector undertakings that signed MoUs with the Andhra Pradesh government for exploration and exploitation of iron ore at Nemalkal and Hiradahalu on Saturday.    

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked AP Choudhary, chairman and managing director of RINL, to take up signing of the MoU for setting up Bayyaram iron ore beneficiation and steel plants at the earliest. Local people should be given employment in the proposed plants, the chief minister said in a release. Reddy also asked RINL to work out the possibility for establishing a steel plant in Jammalamadugu area of Kadapa district in the lands cancelled for Brahmani steel plant.