India’s iron ore major NMDC and Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL) signed an MOU on April 2 at NMDC Head Office in Hyderabad through which they together propose to explore opportunities in rare earths in India and abroad and also in setting up downstream value chain for rare earth products.

“Rare Earth Elements (REE) are used extensively in almost every conceivable advanced technology products and also have commercial, industrial and military applications. China has a monopoly meeting 95% of the global demand. Domestically, IREL is the sole producer of REE compounds. The ever increasing demand for REE necessitates a concerted effort to augment the resource position of our country and also explore opportunities for acquisition/sourcing from abroad.”

During the MoU signing ceremony NMDC Chairman and Managing Director, Shri Baijendra Kumar expressed happiness over NMDC and IREL coming together for meeting the country’s demand of the strategic and critical raw material.

In its core iron ore market, NMDC has also just reported 35.5 Mt of iron ore production in FY18 with iron ore sales touching 36 Mt t. This represents a 4.4% production increase over 2017 and a 1.3% increase in sales of iron ore. This increase in volumes was supported by domestic crude steel production rising by 4.5%.