NMDC- Midhani forms Mining Joint Venture

The country's renowned iron ore mining major, NMDC Limited and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (Midhani), commanding unmatched expertise in developing metals and alloys mines, recently inked an agreement to work on tungsten ore mining and processing for use in strategic defence areas, Director (Production), PK Satpathy, inked the pact on behalf of NMDC, and Director of Midhani, SK Jha, signed the memorandum in presence of Narendra K Nanda, Director (Technical) of NMDC, the NMDC Corporate Office, said in an official statement. The statement further added that the tungsten metal is of strategic importance to the country, and is used in the manufacture of tungsten-based heavy alloy ammunition systems for armed forces. The availability of Tungsten in India is limited and not being mined due to the lean ores and the country's requirement of this strategic mineral is being currently met mainly through imports from foreign countries including China, which is the largest producer of Tungsten, extracting more than three quarters of the world production. This partnership would strengthen both NMDC's and Midhani's resolve to explore jointly the available tungsten assets in the country and consider investment and development abroad and the technology could also be used converting tungsten ore to APT and tungsten powder.