State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) announced on Thursday that it has been named the preferred bidder for the Gadadharpur iron ore deposit in Odisha, marking the country’s largest coal producer’s entry into iron ore mining.
CIL focuses primarily on coal mining and production, generating more than 80 per cent of the country’s domestic coal supply.
This development highlights the state miner’s broader strategy to diversify its operations amidst a long-term shift toward clean energy.
The mining lease was secured at an auction premium set at 114.05 per cent of the value of the dispatched mineral content.
CIL’s entry into iron ore extraction aligns with the central government’s initiative to enhance home-grown production of critical minerals and secure raw material supply chains for the steel sector, which is central to the country’s infrastructure and manufacturing ambitions.
The reserve is currently classified at the G3 exploration phase, holding an estimated resource base of 288 million tonnes, CIL said in a BSE regulatory filing.
A block at the G3 exploration stage is a mineral mining area undergoing preliminary exploration, aimed at narrowing down specific target zones flagged in broad surveys through denser sampling, geological mapping, trenching, and early core drilling to gauge mineral reserves.
Under the terms, Coal India will have one year to complete the formalities to be declared the successful bidder and up to three years to execute the mining lease deed, the filing said.
The mineral block was granted to the public sector undertaking (PSU) by the Odisha government, the company said.
India – ranking as the global runner-up in crude steel manufacturing behind China – is aiming a steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030. Achieving this goal requires a substantial increase in domestic iron ore production to feed expanding blast furnace and integrated steel plants.
CIL is targeting a coal output of 815 million tonnes (MT) alongside off-take targets of 850 MT for the ongoing financial year, following an 8.4 percent production rise to 50.36 MT during July.
The state-run firm’s total coal supplies during the first four months of FY27 (April–July) increased 6.9 percent to reach 262.04 MT – setting a new high for volume delivered over that timeframe.
The previous record was 259.4 MT, achieved during April-July in 2024-25.
