Indian Metals & Ferro

Indian Metals & Ferro (IMFA) describes itself as "India's largest, fully integrated producer of Ferro Alloys" as well as having an existing "108 MW coal-based Captive Power Plant and extensive Chrome Ore mining tracts." The company was founded by the father of Orissa politician, Baijayant Panda, who helped run the company prior to entering politics.

Coal power stations
Indian Metals & Ferro own and operate the 108 megawatt (MW) coal-fired Choudwar power station in Orissa, which is currently being expanded with the addition of a 30MW unit to be run on waste gas from a ferro chrome furnace and coal washery wastes. An additional 120MW coal-based power plant at Choudwar is also currently under construction and scheduled to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2012. The additional capacity would enable IMFA to export approximately 60MW of power to the grid and cater for future expansion.

IMFA has also foreshadowed that it is aiming to enter the power generation industry with the construction of a 1,300 MW power station comprising 2 660MW generating units. It has been reported that IFMA "has submitted a proposal" to the Orissa government.

Coal mining interests
A IMFA subsidiary, Utkal Coal Ltd (UCL) has been established to "develop the Utkal 'C' captive coal block (recoverable reserves of 130 million tonnes) in Odisha’s Angul district which has been allotted to the Group for its existing 108 MW power plant and future expansions."

In July 2011 IFMA announced that a subsidiary, Indmet Mining Pte Limited, had bought a 70% stake in an undisclosed coal mine in Central Kalimantan in Indonesia for $8.75 million. The remaining 30% is held by Indonesian businessman. "We hope to get the necessary government approvals within a year. Once the mines are developed, the coal extracted will be used to take up merchant sales in and around Indonesia,” a top IMFA Group executive said. The coal belongs to thermal grade with a calorific value of 6,000 kilo calories. While the group is planning to have the requisite infrastructure linkages in place within a year, the partners will have to pump in funds to set up a road link to evacuate the coal. “The total quantum of reserves in the coal mine is difficult to ascertain since a detailed assessment is yet to be done. Currently, drilling operations are on at the site. We will be able to get an idea of the amount of reserves after it is complete,” Prem Khandelwal, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of IMFA Group told the Economic Times.

Contact details
IMFA Building Bhubaneswar Orissa 751 010, INDIA Tel: 91 674 2580100, 2580125, 3051000 Fax: 91 674 2580020, 2580145 email: mail AT imfa.in Website: http://www.imfa.in/

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