State-owned NMDC to start commercial thermal coal production by Q3

State-owned NMDC will start the commercial production of thermal coal by October-December period and looks to sell around 1 MT of the dry fuel within FY27, said Amitava Mukherjee, Chairman of India's largest iron ore mining player.

Under the Ministry of Steel, Hyderabad-based NMDC alone caters to the country's 20 per cent need of iron ore -- a key raw material needed to produce steel.

In an interview to PTI, Mukherjee said the company has drawn a road map up to 2030 to diversify its mining operations to support the government's vision of Viksit Bharat.

"Right now, we are 99.9 per cent an iron ore company. We aim to help the growing industries in the country with maximum of their mineral needs," the chairman said, adding that this year the company will begin the commercial mining of thermal coal and targets to sell a maximum of 1 MT of the commodity to potential buyers.

"We have reached the coal seam (of Tokisud North coal mine), and the production will start by next quarter," the chairman said.

The company will also start developing a coking coal mine within FY27 to begin production as early as FY28, he said.

"So this year, NMDC will have coal to offer apart from iron ore, and going forward maybe from next fiscal coking coal too," Mukherjee said.

While thermal coal is used to generate power, coking coal is another important raw material used to manufacture steel.

NMDC had earlier won the Tokisud North coal mine with reserves of 52 MT and Rohne coking coal block with 191 MT reserves in Jharkhand in an auction conducted by the coal ministry.

Mukherjee said the Tokisud North coal mine has an annual peak rated capacity of 2.3 million tonnes (MT) and the Rohne coking coal block has an 8 MT peak rated capacity.

On the rationale for diversification of the mining business, Mukherjee said he aims to make NMDC India's largest mineral mining company. NMDC will keep on looking for opportunities for more and more minerals both in India and abroad.

The Chairman did not share any further information related to diversification plans, but said that by 2030, his goal is to earn at least 20 per cent of revenues from sale of minerals other than iron ore.

In FY26, NMDC reported a 33 per cent rise in total revenues to an all-time high of Rs 31,554 crore, as compared to Rs 23,668 crore in FY25.

On the iron ore business, he said the company is well on track to achieve its goal of producing 100 MT of iron ore by 2030.

Mukehrjee shared that NMDC produced a record 53 MT of iron ore in FY26 as against 44 MT production in FY25 posting a year-on-year rise of 20 per cent; the company looks to maintain the trajectory.

NMDC operates four major highly mechanised iron ore mining complexes in India spread across Chhattisgarh (Bailadila sector) and Karnataka (Donimalai sector).