NMDC Ltd and Indian Rare Earth Limited signs a MoU

KOLKATA: NMDC Ltd and Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL) signed a MoU on Monday to jointly explore opportunities in rare earth elements in India and abroad. The two partners will also look at opportunities in setting up downstream value chain for rare earth products.

Rare Earth Elements (REE) are used extensively in almost every conceivable advanced technology products and also have commercial, industrial and military applications. China has a monopoly meeting 95% of the global demand. Domestically, IREL is the sole producer of REE compounds. The ever increasing demand for REE necessitates a concerted effort to augment the resource position of our country and also explore opportunities for acquisition sourcing from abroad.

P.K.Satpathy, Director (Production), NMDC and A.K. Mohapatra, Director (Technical), IREL signed the MoU in presence of N Baijendra Kumar, chairman NMDC and D. Singh, CMD, IREL during an event which took place at NMDC head office in Hyderabad. Dr Narendra K Nanda, Director (Technical); Dr. T.R.K. Rao, Director (Commercial); D S Ahluwalia, Director (Finance); Sandeep Tula, Director (Personnel) and other senior officials from NMDC and IREL were also present at the signing ceremony.