Environment

The road to development need not be paved with ecological disaster. Kudremukh has shown the way. From  the  very  formulation  stage itself, the  company  has displayed its keen commitment towards environment and ecology. The  company  built  a  100  meter  high  earth - fill  dam  across  the  Lakhya tributary to prevent pollution of the river Bhadra . As part of its   continuing anti-pollution program, the company has undertaken the work of increasing the height of the Lakhya dam to contain tailings from the plant.Two  rock-filled  mini  dams  across the valleys of the crushers arrest mine  run-off  during  the monsoons. Only the clear surface water joins the  Bhadra. The  silt  collected  in  these dams is de silted during the winter  and  summer  months  to  keep them ready for storage for the next monsoon. The silt is rich with washed iron ore, yielding annually about  one  and  half  million  tonnes of quality ore. So, apart from serving the purpose of  controlling  pollution, the mini dams provide a rich source of ore recovery. Turfing  has  been  done  on  a  large  scale  in  all critical earth - filled  areas  to  prevent  earth  slides.  As part of its  afforestation  program, the company has already planted nearly 7.5 Million trees to prevent mine run-off and soil wash-off. 

Thanks  mainly  to   the   various   ecological and environmental control measures  the project has been saved from the annual havoc of floods from the excessive rains year after year. The caring arm of  the  company  has stretched 25 kms down the Bhadra to Kalasa town where  it  has  taken  up the responsibility of ensuring the supply of clean and potable water to the residents of the town.

Environmental Activities At Mangalore Unit.

KIOCL is conferred with EMS 140001 and OSHAS 180001 standards certificates for its environment, health and safety management.

To establish an eco-friendly environment, stringent measures have been taken to ensure good environmental standards since inception. The Mangalore operations of the Company is divided into two parts: The Pellet Plant Unit and the Blast Furnace Unit.

The Pellet Plant Unit has EMS in place. The Environment Cell takes care of the pollution control systems, monitoring of environmental parameters, green belt development and compliance of legal requirements. The Plant recycles the entire waste water generated in the Cooling pond and is a zero discharge unit. The Company has formulated action plans for upgradation of the STP from 30 KLD to 80 KLD and establishing a ETP for treating the FGD effluent from the CPP. Afforestation is being done even outside the Plant premises. The Plant is continuously monitoring the systems for reducing the negative impacts of its operations on the surrounding environment.

At the Blast Furnace Unit, the process has in-built online Dust Catcher and Gas Cleaning Plant for processing the gases generated in the Blast Furnace. Further, the CO gas, which is a by-product of Blast Furnace, is not let out to the atmosphere but effectively utilised to generate power in our 2 x 3.5 MW Captive Power Plant. A part of this gas is also used to preheating process air at stoves.

All the pollution control parameters are closely monitored regularly to ensure them to be well within the permissible limit. Latest pollution control management techniques are also adopted to identify the potential hazards and corrective actions are taken wherever necessary. Special care is taken for disposal of hazardous wastes like oil, batteries, e-waste etc.

The World Environment Day is observed on 05th June every year by KIOCL in association with the Forest Department, Govt. of Karnataka by undertaking planting of saplings in and around the plant area.