Thank you, Operator, and welcome, everyone, to the call. I first thank NMDC for giving PhillipCapital the opportunity to host today's call.

We have with us from the management today Shri Amitava Mukherjee, the Chairman-cum-Managing Director, joined along with Mr. Anurag Kapil, Director (Finance), NMDC.

Without further ado, I would like to hand over the conference to Amitava sir for his opening remarks, and after this, we can open up the floor for Q&A. Over to you, sir.

Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining. As you know that NMDC's performance in FY26 has been rather encouraging.

We have touched 5-- 53 million tonnes of production, we've crossed that. Our sales revenue has grown to 31,000, and we are all now ready for the Maharatna status of this company because now we fulfill all the requirements of a Maharatna company.

Despite slightly sluggish prices, we've been able to achieve a PAT, an 11% growth in PAT, and all our financial indices and operating indices have been rather encouraging. I believe that this sets the foundation for us to achieve 100 million tonne by the end of this decade.

In that journey, I think this year, we will be targeting 60 million tonnes, we hope to achieve, around. The good news is that the more encouraging thing is that we've been able to open a coal mine in Jharkhand, which gives us a new mineral as well as a new geography.

After 50 years, we've been able to open an iron ore mine, that is Deposit 4, in Bailadila. That is, of course, under the NCL banner, NMDC-CMDC banner, where we have 51% stake.

Very soon, we hope that we will be opening the other-- this financial year, we hope to open the other iron ore mine, which is in Deposit 13, and also the Rohne coal block in Jharkhand, which is a coking coal block. There is a lot of action that is happening, and obviously, we are also pursuing assets abroad.

A few of them are in very advanced stages of acquisition. Obviously, we cannot disclose the details because of confidentiality agreements, but this year, we hope to acquire a couple of assets abroad as well.

The capex this year has been around 3,300 crores, which is an all-time high capex because if you leave out the land acquisition this thing, and we hope that this year, we will be able to substantially increase our capex, almost double the capex now, because all our expansion plans right now are on the ground. We have to award a couple of them, rest of them are already under execution.

We are well on our way to get to 100 million tonne by the end of the decade. My colleague, Mr.

Anurag Kapil, Director (Finance), is also here. He might like to add something to what I have said.

Anurag, please. All

Good morning to you all. This is a tremendous performance which NMDC has given in the last in the previous financial year.

As CMD Sahab has just mentioned, we have surpassed all the expectations and crossed the magical figure of the production, which is 50 million tonne. The growth of around 20 20% to 30% 30% in various parameters is really a pathway which will be making a possible to achieve 100 million tonne by 2030.

The more important part is the diversification path of NMDC, which is like as CMD Sahab just mentioned regarding coal and other minerals, also the acquisitions of various minerals abroad. We have also opened a subsidiary

for

for rare earths which will be

[unclear] We've all actually also opened a subsidiary which is now completely dedicated to rare earths and other critical minerals. We're taking those critical requirements of the country very seriously, and we hope to achieve breakthrough in that as well very very soon.

We can take questions now if that's okay.

Thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations for a great performance, sir, particularly on operational front, achieving above 50 million tonnes of production and sales.

A couple of questions. The first one is on NMDC Steel, if it's possible to mention the volumes.

Since now, it's going to be a substantial portion of our revenue, would appreciate if we can give the quantity sold by us in the presentation. For this quarter, if you can let us know the quantity that we sold.

Also, what are the basic terms for this because this number appears in cost as well as, revenue? Just wanted to get little bit of more clarity on this for projection purpose.

Okay.

This was essentially an arrangement made for a very specific requirement of NMDC Steel where they were facing cash flows. We stepped in, and we were doing trading business on with the HR coils of NMDC Steel.

In Q1, there's not going to be any trading right now. That is essentially a special mechanism ki as and when if there's a cash flow issue at NMDC Steel, and we generally tend to step in and buy HR coil and then sell it in the market.

However, because that is at that time, NMDC Steel was, as is under the same management, and at that time, the marketing was being done by SAIL, and there was a lag in payment of in realization of materials sold. At that time, we had to step in, but I don't think that would be triggered right now because that was a very low-volume business.

If you see our EBITDA, it has come down from 42% to 33%, essentially because of steel business. If we take the iron ore business standalone, our EBITDA is still at 42%.

That is not changed. Because of the steel business in the last quarters that we had to do, which was essentially trading, the EBITDA has come down.

That was a one-time measure. I do not think that this quarter, it definitely is not required.

Maybe this financial year, it will be very rarely used, if at all if it is required. Yes, Amit.

Sir. Got it, sir.

The second question is essentially on, and congratulations for opening Deposit 4. I think after a long time, finally, we see it getting,

under-- 50 years.

Yeah. Just wanted to understand the Deposit 4 capacity, when we will hit the rated mining capacity, and also Deposit 14, that's also a very welcome thing, and on coal mines, Rohne and Tokisud, how do we see the production ramping up if you can detail it out, sir?

That would be great.

Deposit 4, as we have already opened, and we are now installing the infrastructure. We hope to have commercial mining commencing on July, that's in Q2.

This year, I think the guidance would be around 1 million tonne out of Deposit 4. Next year, it will be 2 million tonne, followed by once the infrastructure is all ready by another 1.5, 2 years, then it will be ramped up to 7 million tonne, which is the peak rated capacity of Deposit 4.

Deposit 13, because we are still awaiting some clearances which we hope that we will be able to commence the mine somewhere around in Q2 followed by monsoon, I don't think that we will be able to do more than 0.5 million tonne out of Deposit 13. Next year, we will do around 2 million tonne out of Deposit 13, and then the peak rated capacity initially is 10 million tonne, but we plan to ramp it up to 20 to 21 million tonne in 4 to 5 years' time.

That is the iron ore sector here. Regarding coal, Tokisud, as is already operational, we are removing OB.

By this month-end or maybe in Q2, we should be able to hit the coal seam, and we should be able to now extract coal by Q2. Our guidance for Q2 would be around 0.75 million tonne to 1 million tonne of coal this year.

It is the peak rated, as in Tokisud is 2.3 million tonne. Rohne, of course, will take some time to open up because lots of approvals are still pending.

We plan to open it around late Q3. This year, we don't envisage any production out of Rohne because the overburden removal, etc., will have to be carried out once the mine is open.

Rohne would open around Q3, end of Q3.

Great, sir. Thanks a lot for these details, and all the best.

Yeah. Good morning.

Thanks for the chance. Sir, first on the guidance of 60 million tonnes, can you guide mine-wise where are we expecting the incremental 10-odd million tonnes?

Yeah. Deposit 14 will get 1 extra, and Deposit NMZ will get 1 extra.

That's 2 million tonne extra as compared to last year. Kumaraswamy, we will be getting around 1.3 3 extra because it has a peak rated capacity of 10, and last year, we had this MPAP imposed for 8.6, which I hope that we will be able to get around.

That's around 3.3 million tonne extra as compared mine-wise. Then if we target last year that we could not achieve in Deposit 5, instead of 12, we had done around 10, so that it will be 2 extra from Deposit 5.

All this totals up to around 5.3 million tonne. If we add to 53 million tonne that we did, we will end up with NMDC as around 58.5 million tonne.

If we add 1 million tonne from Deposit 4 and another 0.5 million tonne from Deposit 13, so as a whole, NMDC as a whole, including NSL, would touch 60 million tonne. This is the guidance.

Understood. Sir, when Deposit 4 ramps up, will that be replacing the supply which we are currently doing to the steel plant?

No, these are all fungible. It's not nothing is linked to any mine, no plant is linked to any mine.

These supplies are fungible, depends on the production, depends on the quality, depends on the requirement of the steel, and most importantly, depends on the logistics at that point of time. For example, today, we are supplying to NSL from Kirandul as well as from Bacheli.

We are supplying material from Deposit 14 and Deposit 11, Deposit 5 also, Deposit 10 also. The supplies are fungible.

Understood. Sir, can you explain the economics of the coal mine, what would be depending on the grade, the price, all the duties, levies, and overall profitability?

I think we would be able to be because initially, most of it would be in auction. That would fetch substantially higher prices than the CIL FSAs do fetch.

If 1 million tonne is there, I think approximately that should account for around 500 to 600 crores, I think. If we take an average EBITDA of 30% to 40%, so that would be the first year's.

These are all very approximate figures. We'll have to see how we go along with it, what prices are realized on auction and local sales.

These are very preliminary and approximate figures.

Okay. Sir, what will be the grade and, in terms of royalty and all the government duties, what are our liabilities?

G10.

Okay.

If I remember correctly, it is G10, the grade.

Understood. Sir, with respect to RINL, how confident we are on the recovery of all the receivables?

We're paying around 1,500-odd crores for the land lease, 1,800-odd acres. Can you explain what is the use of such a big land parcel?

Yes, the board has already sanctioned investment of around 3,000 crores for creation of a blending yard. You see, in India, no company has ever manufactured or supplied branded iron ore, unlike in the international market, you have Rio Tinto selling RTX and RTF, and BHP selling Jimblebar fines and Newman High, and Vale selling IOCJ.

These are all branded iron ore. India has never tasted that.

NMDC would be the first company in 3 years' time to be selling branded iron ore, and board has already sanctioned an investment proposal for 3,000 crores approximately for making a blending yard at Vizag, where we will be making this blended iron ore of a consistent quality which India has never seen. We expect that to be a game-changer in fact in the iron ore market in India.

That's a real big thing. Apart from that, of course, we'll have a pellet plant there in due course of time once the slurry pipeline once the mode of the slurry pipeline is decided.

We have also kept a land parcel for other purposes like making a lithium refinery or something, as and when we get some mines abroad and or any other critical mineral processing zone that might be required because we are aggressively looking for other minerals as well, and we'll require processing area. That is a port-based area, and it's a wonderful land parcel of around 1,100 acres.

I think all these NMDC's future expansion plan is dependent completely on the Vizag land parcel. We have big plans.

One, board has already sanctioned 3,000 crores, which I think will be completed in around 2 years' time, 2 to 2.5 years' time. Rest, of course, will be as we have long-term plans on that.

Understood. Just one last question.

Is it possible to share over what time do we expect to recover all the receivables and the dues from NSL and RINL?

NSL, now it has become profitable, as you are aware, that NSL has become profitable. This year, we expect much greater profits because most of the operational aspects have been solved except for the 1 or 2, and this year, we expect to make greater profits.

NSL, we see light at the end of the tunnel. I guess it should take about a year and a half, max 2, to liquidate all the entire amount of outstanding.

If you see NSL pre-demerger expenses was around 2,500, it has already been reduced to around 1,800. So, 700 has already been liquidated despite such difficult circumstances.

We are doing about 100 crore every month, so that should take around 16 to 18 months to get liquidated. The rest would also get liquidated, I think, in a year or a year and a half, that's not a problem.

RINL, of course, we'll have to have another look ki what their plans are. We are in touch with RINL.

Hopefully, once it turns around, it is a 100%, as it's a 100% government-owned company, we don't see any risk. Of course, there's a time element to that, but we don't see any risk in that.

Understood. Thank you, sir, and all the best.

Good morning, sir, and thank you for the opportunity. Sir, just wanted to understand any threshold which we have in order in terms of credit to RINL or on a good faith, it will continue?

No, it'll continue. As of now, as it is done, you see RINL is we have an arrangement of bill discounting with RINL.

Obviously, we are getting that money with 45 days lag, and they are over and above what they are consuming, they are paying around 10% extra for that. The liquidation process is on, but it is a little slow.

You see from the business perspective, they consume 7 to 8 million tonnes of our product and are located in a very strategic place. Both in terms of the importance of the customer and the location, the logistic convenience, that is one company we cannot afford not to supply because that will immediately affect our production if supplies there are constrained.

It is neither in our interest to curtail the supplies nor in their interest to have lesser supplies. Accordingly, we are going ahead with the full-fledged supplies.

The payments are received being at a 45-day lag because the bills are being discounted. As of now, RINL has been honoring 100% of their discounted bills which they have the agreement with the bankers, which I do not know what is the time limit of their honoring, but nothing has been recoursed to us last year or this year.

Noted, sir. My second question pertains to our logistics.

Has the railway doubling of railway line been completed? If not done, by what time it would get completed, and how much extra evacuation it can provide?

Out of 131 km, only 2 sections are left. One section is expected to be completed this month-end, and one final section that is between Bhansi and Bacheli will get completed in the month of December because there are a couple of bridges that needs to be constructed there.

By December, we will be able to do it. Once it is done, and now also, you see, we are doing on an average more than 20 rakes and on peak, around 23, 24, 25, 26 rakes.

We have done 30 rakes on a odd day, on a good day. The capacity, of course, will increase to around 40 million tonne immediately once it is done from the present 28 to 30.

Then as and when the railway completes its doubling beyond Jagdalpur, which railway is doing at its own cost, I guess around 50 to 60 million tonnes can be at least 60 million tonnes can be taken through this route, if not higher, depending on how the railway operates the line.

Noted. Sir, our guidance of 60 million tonne, is it contingent on the completion of this railway line, or even without this, we can actually dispatch up to 60 million?

We'll not be able to do 100 without this, but 60, we can.

Noted, sir. Sir, lastly, on our capex side, basically, for the critical mineral or rare earth, just two parts.

Firstly, has this government told us anything that we would get in India on a nomination basis, or we have to bid like anybody else? Secondly, do we looking at abroad and which critical minerals in that sense?

What is the total amount which we think would be comfortable investing in the critical mineral side?

Now let's take this in three parts. Critical minerals and rare earth within India, I think it's a we are not very confident of having too many leases.

Of course, we have entered into an MOU with, as with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, and they have a rare earth mine in Gujarat, which we plan to jointly develop and then create processing facilities jointly. We are in advanced level of talks with them to have get this operational as fast as possible.

Our main thrust on critical mineral and rare earth is essentially abroad. Not that too many assets are available, but wherever they are available, we are very aggressively pursuing them.

Now obviously, the success of that cannot be predicted as of now. Now the profitability of such ventures as of now, it cannot be predicted because we really don't have anything concrete on the table except for the proposal with Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation.

Except for that, it is more that we are aggressively looking for it. We are scouting assets.

It will be very difficult to give you a guidance about how profitable it is, but we know that rare earths and other critical minerals are the future. As a mining company and as a national mining company and as a as a all-mineral company, National Mineral Development Corporation, we realize that these have to form a very important and a substantial part of our mining portfolio.

Noted, sir. Sir, I am not asking for the guidance on the profitability.

Since we are looking abroad, what I was looking actually is the amount of capex which we are comfortable spending. Any threshold on the maximum capex which would go for the critical mineral side?

That is, again, a very speculative thing. It depends on the asset that we finally are.

We are looking at a lot of assets. How many of them will reach the last stage, we are not very sure.

Only when you get to an asset level where you enter into a price negotiation, you can have this. For example, I might be looking at 10 assets, but I'm sure that all of them will not go to the level of a price negotiation and procurement.

Also, it'll depend on the size of the asset. It is very speculative right now to even second-guess.

I think overall, the capex on acquisition, the back-of-the-envelope calculation is wherever we stand today, as of today, we should be spending 2 to 3,000 crores on acquisition of assets abroad this year.

Noted. Sir, lastly, if I look at the average price increase in the iron ore, it doesn't reflect the full extent of the price increase.

Currently, what kind of lag which we are experiencing in passing on the price, and how should we look at the average price realization for the Q1 FY27?

I think the prices would be more or less stabilized because if you see the steel prices were very strong after December. Up to December, January, February, the steel prices were very, very on the it had a northern movement.

Then March, it stabilized. March and April, it has reasonably stabilized.

I think we are in some period of price stability, both in terms of steel and consequently, in terms of iron ore as well. I don't see much volatility in the very short term.

Once you would see a sharp increase in your average realization, right, because of the lag effect of the price rise which you have taken?

Slight lag is always there because we take into consideration a lot of other factors as well while deciding our prices. It is not only steel prices, it's not directly linked or proportionately linked to that.

We have other factors: international prices, the prices of our competitors, the demand appetite, and the logistics, where we can supply and where we cannot, and all those things. These are multiple variables come into play.

To say that there's an absolute lag, I don't think it would be a very accurate projection of the facts. We take a call every month at the end this.

This year also, we'll take a call this month also, in a couple of days, we'll take a call about the prices. They would be fairly range-bound rather than having a I don't expect a sharp increase.

They would be rather range-bound.

Noted, sir. That's all from my side.

Thank you for answering them, and all the best for future.

Thank you.

Hi.

Hello. Go ahead.

Mr.

Hi, sir. Congratulations on a great set of numbers.

Sir, I just needed a clarity on the other operating revenue from HR coils. Would it be a continuing effect going forward, or it was just the trading effect from NMDC Steel?

That though I had already mentioned in the answer to the first question that it was essentially the trading of steel business was essentially a temporary measure. It's been done and dusted.

We have had no transaction of that sort in Q1 as of date. We don't see any transaction happening in Q1 this year.

Hopefully, such transaction would be very minimal, if at all it happens this year. I think I've already answered that previously, and that is that.

Sir,

what would be our capex going forward for next 2 to 3 years?

This year, we expect to capex of around 5 to around 6,000 crores. That is what my own assessment is.

Going forward next 2, 3 years, it will be in the range of 7 to 10,000 crores every year for the next 2, 3 years because you see most of the works are under execution, and a couple of major works are just under award. I think we should be able to award those major tenders worth around 15, 16,000 crores or 20,000 crores by the end of this month or maximum next month.

These will come into peak execution stage about next year only. This year, the guidance would be around 6 to 7,000 crores.

6,000 crores would be more realistic. Next year on, maybe we should be able to touch the magic figure of 9 to 10,000 crores.

The idea is that we have to spend this 40, 50,000 crores within the next 3 years to reach our desired capacity level of 100 million tonne. We are right now completely geared towards capacity expansion projects only, execution of capacity expansion projects.

Sir, to reach 100, would we be adding new mines, or would we doing the capacity expansion in the existing ones? What would be our pathway

Kirandul, for example, has done last year around 21 million tonne. Kirandul is expected to go up to 30 million tonne by the end of the decade.

Bacheli did around 18 million tonne, 18, 19 million tonne. That will go up to 35 million tonne by the end of the decade.

Apart from that, the Karnataka sector will stabilize at 17 million tonne because of regulatory issues, because of we don't expect more MPAP levels. We've got two new mines, that is Deposit 4 and Deposit 10, in another 3 to 4 years, which will release peak rated capacity.

That's 7 million tonne in Deposit 4 and around 10 and plus 10 in Deposit 13. We are pretty confident of reaching 110, if not 100 million tonne, by the end of the decade.

Sir, one last question. You mentioned about blended iron ore as a next potential game-changer for the company.

Could you just expand more on that, what how and when would we be able to

Not only a game-changer for the company, it'll be a game-changer for the country in the way it consumes iron ore. You see, worldwide what happens is that most of this iron ore that is sold is branded in the sense that specifications are absolutely adhered to.

If you are buying, let us say, an RTX or a Newman High, you know exactly what Fe content, exactly what silica content, exactly what alumina content, exactly what phosphorus content. You can then calibrate your blast furnace for maximum efficiency for such ore.

In India, it is not there. One consignment from my mine or any other mine would be of a particular Fe is anyway still maintained within a very narrow range, but then the silica and the alumina and the phosphorus and the other elements tend to vary much more depending on how and where I am mining.

That's not only true for NMDC, but that's true for all the miners in the country because we don't have blending facilities. Because Mother Earth is Mother Earth, and it'll give iron ore of a particular The idea is to store it somewhere and then mix various types of iron ores to come to a absolutely very narrow band of specifications which does not change.

That is what you call is branded iron ore. You have IOCJ from, let us say, Vale.

When you buy an IOCJ, you know exactly that this will be my Fe, this will be my silica, this will be my alumina. That is what we are now We have studied this phenomenon for the last 3 years.

The board has sanctioned 3,000 crores for the blending yard at Vizag, and that will be our first output would be the branded iron ore from there, which I'm sure will fetch a substantial premium in the market because it increases blast furnace efficiency very substantially.

Sir, could you explain the process of how do we achieve the blending process? Is it a special There has to be so I would have zero idea on how would this economics of this work.

It's a

standard process which is followed worldwide. Vale has huge blending yards, let us say, at Malaysia, in Sohar in Malaysia and in Oman.

There's a process which is not very cumbersome. You have different stockpiles of different grades and then decide on and how that what would be the recipe for mixing.

It is something that's done everywhere. It is done in Australia, it is done in Malaysia, it is done in small scale at various locations in China, it is done at in Oman and all this.

It's something that the world already does everywhere. It's just that it was not there in India.

We are bringing that what the world does to now to India, and that is why we had procured that huge parcel of land there. About more than a third, almost a half of that land would be used for this blending yard purposes.

Sir. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Good morning, sir.

Congratulations on a great set of numbers and the achievements on volumes. Sir, just wanted to continue on your discussion on Deposit 14 and NMZ, 1 1 million tonne each you said next year.

All the capex which you had talked about downhill conveyor and new crushing plants at Deposit 14 and Deposit 5, are these both completed as of now, or will we complete it by the end of this year?

Deposit 14 and NMZ, additional 1 1 would be through our existing infrastructure only. We have applied for additional EC for 1 million tonne in both these mines, and we expect to get them, and we will be actually sweating our existing assets to achieve this.

That is without. Of course, the new infrastructure that is being built for Deposit 14 and 14 NMZ and 11 and 11C, it'll take another year and a half to get completed.

Of course, at that time, the production capacity would increase substantially by 5 to 6 million tonne. This year, it is by our existing asset.

Deposit 5, there was a slight capacity expansion going on in one of my downhill conveyors. It is expected to end on, I think, it will get commissioned in June end or July.

Then we can easily do 12 million tonne out of that. There's only one small bottleneck which will get commissioned in this month or maybe early next month.

We are good to go for 12 in Deposit 5. Rest of it, of course, unless after 60, the further increase would either be on NSL or only after the infrastructure is completed

in each. Right.

Sir, and the pellet plants which you had talked about at Vizag, what is the status on that? See,

pellet plant at Vizag is essentially on an drawing board stage. The pellet plant and the slurry pipeline will get commissioned by end of June or maybe at best in July.

The 15 million tonne slurry pipeline that we are building from Bacheli to Nagarnar and the pellet plant at Nagarnar and the grinding mill at Bacheli, this entire system would get commissioned by this month-end or maybe by around mid-July. That is what we are looking at.

They are currently in pre-commissioning trials. Once these pre-commissioning trials are started and the heating is started, I think the mechanical completion of the plants is over.

The mechanical completion of the pipeline is also over. Various pre-commissioning trials and testings are being done, and then we'll go in for the commissioning, I think, by the month-end or.

The Vizag pellet plant, of course, it is only at an ideation stage. We will build one, but first, we need to sort out our the route of the slurry pipeline, whether it'll go from Nagarnar to Vizag or whether it'll go directly from Kirandul to Vizag, that's a question that we are looking at.

Once that is sorted out, we'll be planning.

Okay. Sir, this KIOCL 3 million tonne which we are running, right, that is running at what utilization now?

Last year, we did around 2.2 million tonne, if I am correct. 2.4 million tonne, I think, we did last year.

This year, we plan to do around 3 million tonne. We are trying to make, again, for the first time in India, a DR grade pellet.

We have already achieved around 66.5 million sorry, 66.5% Fe content pellet. That we have already achieved.

The idea is to get DR grade pellets made out of there. Hopefully, by Q2, we should be able to have a greater clarity on our ability to make DR grade pellets at KIOCL.

We've been successful till 66.5% Fe. Another 0.5% Fe and we are done.

That's our aim right now. We'll do 3.3 million tonne out of KIOCL.

Okay. Sir, and lastly, on customer side, are we tying up incremental plants, few of the existing customers are have formed JVs, and what any status over there?

Will we be supplying to those plants or

There's no dearth of plants. You see, there has been a huge amount of capacity expansion in the secondary sector in the Raipur area, where we are the dominant supplier.

I think huge number of new plants have come in last year and capacities of existing plants has also been substantially increased. That's one.

I think our big customers have huge expansion plans, all our big customers, whether JSW or AM/NS or JSPL or now NSL and RINL. Vizag is also performing to optimal levels, and all our existing customers have very substantial expansion plans.

I don't think demand would be ever a problem for NMDC, especially the quality of ore that we produce simply because of the phosphorus, the low phosphorus that we have. I don't think demand is an issue at all, even for a 100 million tonne production.

Right. Thanks a lot, sir, and best wishes.

Thank you.

Yeah. Congratulations, sir, for the very good numbers.

Thank you.

Yeah. Sir, as you explained, that in 2027, we'll be coming up to 60 million tonnes.

Then

end of the decade, you said 100 million tonnes. Then we are left with 2028 and '29 and '30.

Will we be able to come to 40 million tonne expansion?

Oh yes, most of these are either under execution or under the final stages of award. Deposit 5 will go up from 12 million tonne to 20 million tonne.

The works are already Hello?

Hello.

I think this 40 million tonne, the infrastructure for that is being created, and we are following this up very, very intensely. I think going to 100 million tonne by the end of the decade is something that is eminently possible.

Jee, aur 100 million tonne ka market milega, sir, apne ko?

I just answered my last question that market is never a problem for NMDC. My existing big customers who are the fines customers like JSW, like AM/NS is coming up with a 10 million tonne, 7 plus 10, 17 million tonne, 40 km from Vizag,

integrated.

JSW is increasing its capacity very substantially. JSPL is doing.

All my big customers

They are coming with their own mining also, sir.

It doesn't matter, but our product they will still require because their requirement is huge. They cannot meet that through their own mines, and they cannot meet it only exclusively through NMDC.

We have studied that very closely, and I think that selling 100 million tonne is not a big deal, especially now that we will end up by that time having around 3 plus 7, around 15 million tonnes of pellet-making capacity at that time. Jee, jee.

Yeah. No, that selling 100 million tonne is not a problem is a very good news, sir.

It's a very good news even for the investors and for NMDC.

Saab, hamari phosphorus

jo hai

na, hamari phosphorus jo hai, woh 0.05 hai. Toh India mein kisi ore mein nahi hai.

Toh you need that why you would always, even if you have full capacity, you will need my ore.

Jee. Nahi, main, sir, NMDC ko bohot acche se jaanta hoon.

I was working with McNally Bharat.

Very nice.

Toh mere ko toh, sir, poori detail maloom hai. NMDC is one of the best iron ore company, no doubt about it.

Thank you.

Accha, sir,

doosra

yeh jo blending ka aap bata rahe the, toh woh blending mein what exactly we will be doing, sir, and where we'll be selling? Dekhiye,

Vizag gives us the double advantage of having a few very big steel plants in its vicinity: RINL ho gaya, Ankapalli wali plant ho gayi, fir Steel Exchange ki plant hai. It has a huge local captive market.

Also, it gives us the opportunity to use coastal shipping to reach western markets also, jo aaj hum kar bhi

rahe hain. Jee, jee.

We have the coastal market on the western side, which is being serviced through Vizag today. At Vizag through Vizag, I have the liberty of accessing the local market as well as the entire coastal market, the coastal

In India.

In India.

Export ka,

sir, koi yeh chance? Nahi, 30% export duty mein toh it doesn't make too much of a sense to do that.

If you have to export, you should be pellets

Do we have the permission kind of a thing?

We don't need any permission. You pay the duty and you do it, 30%.

It doesn't make economic sense.

Yeah. It doesn't make economical sense.

I agree, sir. I agree.

Accha, sir, abhi haan. Abhi coal mines ke upar mera ek question hai, sir.

Yeh jo coking coal wala hai, yeh kahan, Dhanbad area Dhanbad area mein hai, sir? Nahi, it is 12

both my mines are located 12 km from each other. It is in the Hazaribagh District,

near Barkagaon.

They are located 12 km from each other, there's a lot of synergy.

This will be opencast or underground?

Both are opencast mines. Both Tokisud and Rohne are opencast mines.

Sir, accha, because Dhanbad basically BCCL is, as it is, a totally underground mines.

Nahi, they are all opencast mines. Within 3 years, you will have a coal top line of sales of not less than 5,000 to 8,000.

Haan, sir, aap jaisa

bata rahe

hain opencast, yeh toh maza aa jayega, sir. Bilkul.

Bhai, aapka Cost Haan, mining cost will be very low. Yeh toh bohot hi, it's a very good news, sir.

Haan. Yeh kab production mein kab aa jayega, sir?

Dekhiye, Tokisud toh isi mahina production mein aa jayegi, we have opened it. That's 2.3 million tonne.

That is normal mine.

That is a normal thermal coal, but that's still profitable. The coking coal will start the we hope to start the operation by end of Q3 because certain amount of regulatory approvals are still pending for that.

Acha,

you mean to say Q3 FY27?

Nahi, nahi, ek minute.

Only this last question. Aur capacity kya hoga, sir,

iska?

Kya? Coking coal ka kya capacity hoga apna?

The

peak rated capacity is 8 million tonne.

Eight?

8, 8, aath.

Oh, my god. Oh, accha hai, sir.

Very good, sir. Congratulations and all the best.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, sir. My first question would pertain to just for everyone to understand, what would be the current total EC capacity of NMDC as on date, and in FY27, in this financial year, where can we look at our EC capacity by, let's say, FY27 exit?

That would be the first question. Second question, can we throw some color regarding the exact prospects of the legacy of what is exactly happening in Australia and whether that gold mining that we had talked about, what is the current status and the abroad investments, the existing abroad investments?

Right. Regarding the EC capacity, you must know that there are two things in EC capacity: one is EC per se, the other is the operational aspect, which is called the CTO or consent to operate.

Now we have an EC capacity of 64.8, but a CTO of around 55.4. We have asked for an enhancement of CTO in three places to about 3.32, we'll have a CTO of around 58.8, and which is exactly what we want to do this year.

If you know that in FY26, for the record and for the understanding, all our mines touched the EC capacity except one, Deposit 5. That too because we got the enhancement in Deposit in EC late in the through the year.

As on 1st April EC, we have touched the EC capacity of all the mines, and that is the first time that has happened for any company in India. In India, all the mines by owned by a company touching EC, it has never happened in iron ore.

We did that, and this year, we expect to repeat once we get the CTO of around 58.8, we expect to repeat that feat this year. This is a unique and a very commendable feat, which has never ever happened.

This year, I'm sure that we'll be able to do it. As you know that our production as compared to last year for the first 2 months is around 15% higher.

We have already touched almost 10 million tonnes in the first 2 months as against 8. something 8.2 or something last year.

This is this month itself, I think we have already declared to the stock exchange, I guess. I can say this today is first.

We have done 5.3 million tonne against what we did 4.4 million tonne last year. We are well on our way to achieve 60 million tonne.

For the first time, we have touched a 5 million tonne in Q1. We have crossed 5 million tonne in 1 month's production in Q1.

So, 58 would be our CTO against a EC of 64, and we I'm confident that we'll touch this. Apart from NCL would be around 1.5 million tonne, as I had said, Deposit 14 and Deposit 4 and Deposit 13.

That's the game plan for this year. Regarding Legacy, we had produced as per our requirement gold for the last 2 years.

This year, the operations just broke even. Now we have curtailed our production, and we are now actually going full hog on exploration and proving of further assets because we have realized that giving the gold prices, unless you have your own refinery, making it very profitable becomes very difficult there.

The idea is now to prove enough resources. Additional we have the additional mining leases in nearby areas, which we are exploring.

Once we have enough resources, we will be we are planning to put up a small refinery there so that we can refine our own gold and make money because even after producing so much, it was only at around almost around break-even level, essentially because the refining costs in the market have gone very substantially up. We need a refinery there, and for that, we need instead of small-volume mining, we need large-volume mining, for which we need to prove resources in our adjoining mining leases, which we are doing right now.

Sir, and in terms of the job work arrangement for our pellets with KIOCL, does that continue, and what are the prospects of transitioning to high-grade pellets? Can you please throw some light?

We have already reached 66.5 million 66.5 grade Fe. We've sold a couple of consignment on that.

The idea is to come to around 67 grade Fe. We will be doing around 2.4 or 2.6 million tonne last year.

This year, we'll do 3 to 3.3 million tonne this year. The idea is to be able to make 67 grade pellet, which is the DR grade pellet, and then we'll be the first time to make it in India.

We expect the current premium is around $20 to $30 for the DR grade pellet, and that is what we are targeting to achieve that.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah. Am I audible?

Yes.

Yeah. Congratulations, sir, for the great set of numbers and the new launching segment of coal and other minerals.

My first question is about because average domestic iron ore realization that has slightly declined 4%.

Yes, please. Yeah.

Based on the ongoing expansions and the strong order pipeline which is there, can you please give the guidance for the EBITDA per tonne and the blended iron ore realizations per tonne for the FY27 on a quantified basis about also the EBITDA per tonne because

I think as I have said that the prices are going to remain range-bound. I don't think there is going to be this financial year, especially this quarter, I don't think there's to be any volatility either upside or the downside.

This will be a range-bound movement around this time also. We expect to have to maintain our EBITDA at around 42% to 43% this year.

This is our expectation.

Sir. Sir, about the higher employee cost due to the government pay revisions, any other kind find of contractions in the margins ahead that you're looking for?

No, I didn't understand your question. Please repeat your question.

Yeah.

About the higher employee cost, which is expected due to the government pay revisions in the next year, FY27, that is going to get adjusted, what would be the any other kind of a impact on the contraction

I think the most of our employees are in non-executive cadre, and their pay revision is being worked out right now. It is under the consideration of the ministry.

We always account for the higher wages. It has already been provided for.

The increased amount of wages is already provided for in the books of accounts. There's not going to be any large-scale effect on that because whatever has been proposed for enhancement has already been accounted for from 1/1/26 itself.

There's not going to be any marginal effect on that. Far as the executive is concerned, yes, our executive are lesser in number, it is only around about 1,100.

We will be providing for that from 1/1/27 start providing for that. I think the impact would be not very substantial.

We've been able to curtail our, in fact, bring down our production cost from a 1,000-odd odd rupees per tonne in Bacheli in Bailadila to around 800 tonne rupees per tonne this year. We expect to have more such efficiency gains, and we expect to reduce our cost per tonne even more.

The effect would essentially be very marginal, very marginal.

Okay.

It will be offset by efficiency gains.

Okay. Sir, and what would be the debt level positions, like you have net debt positions would be for the FY27, it would be like

As of now, there are no immediate plans of leveraging our balance sheet. The current visibility is that we should be able to service all our capex and acquisition requirements through internal resources.

That is the visibility we have as of now. If required going forward late this year, we will think in terms of leveraging it only if certain big-ticket acquisitions fructify, certain big-ticket global acquisitions fructify.

Otherwise, I think we are fairly comfortable in terms of servicing our capex requirement and current acquisition requirements.

Okay. Sir.

Got it. Sir, my last question, it is about the environmental clearance, as expansions which are happening about the key constraint.

There are a lot of projects like Bacheli and the other mines. What would be the timeline for receiving any approval?

Can you share some insights on that?

That have been applied for, I think we will have them well before these expansion projects actually get completed or even get started. We'll have those in place well in time.

In a mining company, you see it's a continuous process, asking for enhancement of environment capacity and then asking for forest clearances. It's a continuous process.

Sometimes you require it for dumping, sometimes you require it for excavation, sometimes you require it for others. It's a continuous process, and I don't think that's a red flag as of now.

Okay. Sir, and last, it is coal mine timeline.

Can you please expected ramp-up timeline and annual volume target for FY27 for coal mine? Can you please tell again what would be the target?

Tokisud is for about 1 million tonne for coal. Rohne, I don't think we'll go It'll the mine will start in Q3, but there will be no commercial production because there will be a lot of overburden removal, etc.

The peak rated capacity, we expect to achieve in 1.5 years to 2 years maximum. Tokisud, it will be 2.3 million tonne, and Rohne, it will be 8 million tonne.

Sir. Thank you so much, sir.

Thank you.

I think the Director (Finance), Mr. Anurag Kapil, would make the closing comments as he might I might have missed something which he would like to add, and I'd request Kapil to please make the closing comments.

As you have already heard that company NMDC is on that path of 100 million tonne with proper planning. In all probabilities, all the questions have been answered very, very satisfactorily.

The performance in all the things production, revenue from operation, profit before tax, profit after tax, and sales have surpassed all the expectations this time. I really thank all the investors for the productive questions, and I hope that all of them have been answered satisfactorily.

I've nothing more to add on that because almost everything is covered. Our performance is covered, our future plans are covered, our foreign acquisitions are covered, and our diversification in both coal and other minerals is also covered.

Thank you.