Lloyds Metals starts 10 million tonne iron ore slurry pipeline in Gadchiroli

Nagpur: Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited (LMEL) made its 10 million tonne capacity pipeline that would transport iron ore in slurry form for a distance of 85km operational on Wednesday.
LMEL, which has its iron ore mine in the Maoist-affected district, is also coming up with an integrated steel complex in Gadchiroli. The slurry pipeline was much awaited as it can ease the burden on the district's internal roads.
It is reported to be the first-ever iron ore pipeline in western India, The iron ore fines will be minutely pulverised into powder and pushed through the pipeline from its mines at Surjagarh to its plant at Konsari village, over 85km away in the same district.
The company at present has an environmental clearance (EC) to extract 10 million tonnes of iron ore from the mines at Surjagarh. It has, however, submitted a proposal to get an EC for mining 25 million tonnes also. As the company hopes to get permission for enhanced mining in this financial year, at least 10 million tonnes would go through the pipeline, easing the burden on the road network to that extent, said sources part of the project.
On a daily basis, as much as 30,000 tonnes of iron ore is expected to be transported through the pipeline. The iron ore will then be used in the pellet-making plant at Konsari, which is expected to become operational by June this year, said sources part of the project. The company has plans to build three pellet plants in the district. With the first expected to start in June, work is at an advanced stage for the second.
Iron ore fines can be transported through the pipeline after a further grinding process. Later, the water is separated from the iron ore, which is used for pellet making, explained a source.
The company's future projects, as disclosed to the stock exchange last week, include a 190km slurry pipeline also. The survey work has been completed, and preliminary engineering has been completed. The process of getting the right of way is under way. This pipeline will start from Hedri near Surjagarh to Ghugus in Chandrapur via the Konsari plant. It will feed the steel plant at Konsari and the company's third pellet plant to come up at Ghugus.
The construction of the third pellet plant is expected to start in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026. For the integrated steel plant, which is the ultimate plan of LMEL, the construction is expected to start before the first quarter of the financial year 2027, according to the disclosures made by the company. The total investment of the company in the district is pegged at over Rs 24,000 crore.