Lloyd’s Metals plans to start Gadchiroli unit on August 15

Nagpur: Lloyd’s Metals and Energy Limited (LMEL), which is building a direct reduced iron (DRI) plant at Kondseri village in the Naxalite-infested Gadchiroli district’s Chamorshi tehsil, expects to commission the facility on August 15.
Once operational, this would be the first major industrial unit coming up in the district. Iron ore required for the plant would be sourced from LMEL’s mines at Surjagarh, around 100km from the plant. At present, it is also the lone mining company in Gadchiroli.

As expansion has been also planned at the site, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board has scheduled a public hearing on July 7 for granting environmental clearance (EC). The public hearing would be held at Kondseri village where the project is coming up.
Nine villages apart from Kondseri come within the impact area, whose residents are expected to take part in the public hearing. Earlier, hearing for the expansion of mine in Surjagarh was held at Gadchiroli district headquarters instead, which drew flak and protests.
LMEL would be pumping in an investment of over ₹5,500 crore in the entire project, including the expansion. The company has already acquired around 150 acre land in Kondseri and is looking for taking over more land, said sources. At present around 1,500 persons have been employed at the DRI site which includes construction workers also. Once the expansion happens, the numbers would increase considerably. The work has attracted workers from Gadchiroli district headquarters to the plant site in the interior. Normally, the migration is expected to be from the interior villages to the town, a source involved in the project said.
The expansion includes bringing up of a pellet plant with a capacity of 70,000 tonne per annum. Other facilities include 2x4.5 million tonne capacity iron ore grinding and 10 million tonne thickening units. The ultimate plan is to have integrated steel complex. Odisha’s Thriveni Earth Movers Limited has also joined the venture my taking up a stake in LMEL.
Lawyer and activist Lalsu Nogoti, who has been championing against the mining project, said he would be consulting his colleagues and submit objections through email for the public hearing. There is a provision to send the submissions through email also. The issues to be raised will be decided after consulting the locals, said Nogoti, who was also actively involved in opposing mining activities in Surjagarh.
Meanwhile, company sources said there has been a major stress on CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities especially in the mining area. A hospital, school and a garment unit is being built in the area apart from carrying out various training activities for the locals’ skill development.