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Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd is a mining and mineral processing company in India. The company is the largest merchant seller of Lignite in India. The company produces lignite, bauxite, calcined bauxite, fluorspar and manganese ore. They are also engaged in the generation of power. The company offers lignite for various industrial units, including textiles, chemicals, ceramics, bricks, and captive power.
Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd was established by the Government of Gujarat, in the year 1963, for developing major mineral resources of the State of Gujarat. The company commenced their operations, with a small sand crushing plant at Surendranagar which supplied graded sand to consumers all over the State. The sand was used by various manufacturers of sodium silicate and glass industries.
In the year 1968, the company commenced their next project, which was beneficiation of fluorspar, a rare mineral essential for basic industries, like refining of steel manufacturing of aluminium, hydrochloric acid, foundry flux and welding electrodes among others. In the early 70's the company commenced mining of lignite in Kutch district. In the year 1984, the company started mining operations at Rajpardi near Ankleshwar. They supplied lignite to majority of the textile industries from this mine.
In October 1997, the Government of Gujarat came out with an offer for sale of 82,68,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each at Rs 140 thereby diluting their stake to 74%. The Government intends to disinvest further equity in a period of 24 months so as to bring down their holding in GMDC to 49%-51%.
During the year 2004-05, the company commenced their operations in the mine at village Tadkeshwar in Surat District which was leased by the company. The company commissioned the Sea Water Intake System, Desalination Plant, Fuel Oil Handling System, Cooling Water System and Air Compressor System & Other Auxiliary Systems.
During the year 2004-05, the company signed a MoU with RBG Minerals Industries, Udaipir for developing the Ambaji Group Mining and a concentration project. In December 15, 2004, the company completed the refractory dry out procedure of the Boiler Unit I lead to light up of the Boiler by oil. After the light up, steam blowing activities were undertaken and the first unit was successfully synchronized with GEB Grid on March 31, 2005.
During the year 2005-06, after commissioning of the Material Handling System, the first unit was taken on Lignite Trials and successfully reached its rated capacity of 125 MW by end of October 2005. The second unit was lighted up on October 10, 2005 and was successfully synchronized with the Grid on December 12, 2005. Lignite dispatch from Tadkeshwar started from March 2006 on commercial basis During the year 2006-07, the company executed a MoU with Gokul Refoils & Solvents Ltd for setting up of 125 MW captive power plant based on lignite from Tadkeshwar mine. Also, they executed a MoU with Jaypee Associates Ltd, New Delhi, for setting up a 2.4 MTPA cement plant based on limestone.
During the year, the company entered into a joint venture with Gujarat Power Corporation and formed a company namely, Bhavnagar Energy Company Ltd for 500 MW lignite based power plant at Bhavnagar. The unit 2 of power projects at Nani-Chher started commercial operation from May 1, 2005 and the unit 1 was commercialized from March 12, 2007.
During the year 2007-08, the company signed a MoU with Aluchem Inc, USA for setting up of 1 million TPA capacity Alumina based chemicals and speciality products based on Bauxite deposits. Also, the company was granted work permit by the Government of Gujarat for lifting of 1 lakh MT of Manganese Waste Dump from Shivrajpur in Baroda.
In September 2007, the company started mining production in Amod Lignite Mine near Rajpardi. The mining operations in Bhavnagar mine was commenced in April 2008 and the lignite production is expected to start from September-October 2008.
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