IIT Kharagpur, NMDC Signed MoU for drone based mineral exploration

Context

The country's largest iron ore producer, NMDC Ltd, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for drone-based mineral research with IIT Kharagpur.

Key-points

• National Mineral Development Corporation (NDMC) and IIT Kharagpur will collaborate to create spectrum products, methodologies, and algorithms for drone (UAV) mining exploration.
• The collaboration will also lead to the development of software spectral tools for mineral excavation and mining technology capacity-building programmes.
• From the reconnaissance G4 level to the detailed G1 level of UNFC, NMDC has been exploring minerals for over six decades for a variety of minerals such as copper, rock phosphate, limestone, magnesite, diamond, tungsten, and beach sands, among others.
• Drone-based Geophysical Surveys and Hyperspectral Studies for Mineral Exploration would be conducted by NMDC for the first time in India.
• NMDC’s collaboration with IIT-Kharagpur will usher in a new era in mineral discovery for the country.
• NMDC is exploring for various minerals in Madhya Pradesh as well as diamonds in the Beloda-Belmundi block in Chhattisgarh.
  • It is also the first CPSE in the central Indian diamond province to use space geophysics, as well as the first to use online monitoring of data exploration on the BHUVAN platform.