MOIL’s global play: India’s miner targets critical assets amid China’s restraint

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In a strategic pivot driven by China’s restraint on critical minerals, MOIL Ltd, India’s largest manganese ore producer, is aggressively pursuing global mining deals to secure vital raw material supplies.

MOIL is in early negotiations for international assets including copper and nickel from Finland’s Zawar Group, and vanadium from Australia’s Australian Vanadium Ltd and South Africa’s Vanadium Resource Ltd. It has also approached Indonesia’s Merdeka Battery Materials for potential tie-ups, aiming to diversify into critical battery minerals.

Global consultancies E&Y and Deloitte have been roped in to scout potential deals, sources said.

The entity in a review meeting at the Steel Ministry, held sometime back, said, it was scouting for overseas mining assets to secure critical raw material supplies.

Documents reviewed by businessline show that the state-owned miner is preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gabon (in Africa) for manganese mining operations, marking its first formal overseas mining foray.

Overseas Acquisitions

During the review meeting, MOIL – which has an 18 per cent market share in India and is a miniratna company under the Ministry of Steel — officials said non-disclosure agreement was signed with Zawar Group in March, and a presentation was made by the entity for its Finland project, in April.

The Pune-headquartered Zawar Gtoup on its website said a mineral exploration programme in Finland commenced in 2016 – and seven reservations followed by exploration activities including two drilling programmes have been completed. Advance stage projects are being pursued for exploration. Permits are sought for the Rusamo Project, where it has applied for exploration permit over 2,000 hectares with mining activities being carried out for minerals such as palladium, platinum, nickel copper, gold and cobalt. In the Vallikorp / Orisburg project, medium exploration permit for 600 hectares have been applied for gold exploration.

With Australian Vanadium Ltd – an ASX listed entity – the state-owned manganese miner signed an NDA in April this year; while E&Y has “forwarded an offer from Vanadium Resource Ltd, South Africa” in April 2025 and a detailed information is awaited.

Vanadium is essential for various industries, including steelmaking and energy storage, and is recognised for its potential to improve the properties of steel alloys, making them stronger and more durable. Additionally, vanadium is a key component in vanadium redox flow batteries, which are crucial for large scale energy storage solutions.

In case of Merdeka Battery Materials, the Indonesia-based entity, a response from the entity is awaited. “Detailed study of submitted documents are underway,” an official in the know said.

Indian Op Ramp Up

As MOIL targets a production ramp-up to 3.5 million tonnes by 2030, it is also seeking to near double its domestic market share to 32 per cent. Existing production is around 1.8 million tonnes.

The company reported a total revenue of ₹1,696 crore (up 10 per cent), and a profit after tax of ₹382 crore (up 30 per cent y-o-y) for FY25.

To consolidate domestic operations, MOIL is pursuing environmental clearances to expand production capacity from 20 lakh tonnes as of April 2023 to a projected 48 lakh tonnes by April 2026. However, delays persist, notably, a 3 lakh tonne clearance for the Chikla mine (in Nagpur, Maharashtra) remains stuck due to pending mining lease approvals.

Over here, MOIL is pushing through joint ventures with state mining companies in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhudkum and Selva blocks, and exploratory drilling in Chhattisgarh’s Nilkanthpur block. “While initial results have been encouraging, local land access issues have hampered progress,” it mentioned.

A critical regulatory issue also looms. The manganese miner, MOIL has formally sought a 10-year exemption from the long-standing government ban on deploying contract labour in manganese mining.

Published on July 13, 2025