<P> The captive mining took place at Kudremukh on the Western Ghats range . The mined ore was transported 110 km through slurry pipelines running through the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada up to the pelletisation plant in Panambur, adjacent to the premises of the New Mangalore Port . </P> <P> The pellet plant with a capacity of 3.5 million tons per annum was commissioned at Mangalore in 1987 . The plant was stopped in 2011 but in 2014 the plant resumed producing and exporting pellets, running on ores supplied by NMDC Limited . The pellets have been shipped to countries like China, Iran, Japan, and Taiwan . </P> <P> In 2017 there were plans to restart captive mining operations, now at Sanduru in Bellary district . </P> <P> The mining lease was given to KIOCL in Kudremukh for a period of 25 years and was supposed to be closed by December 2001 . Kudremukh area is a biodiversity hotspot, with Kudremukh national park nearby . The mining lease was temporarily extended, however, it was completely stopped in 2006 due to environmental reasons . </P>

Asia's largest iron ore mining and pelletization complex