KIOCL Ltd , a wholly owned Government of India Enterprise, was established in April 2, 1976.KIOCL is Asia's largest iron ore mining and pelletisation complex and the country's biggest 100% export oriented unit engaged in the business of exporting high quality iron oxide pellets and pig iron. The name of the company has changed from Kudremukhore to KIOCL ltd from January 22,2009.Headquartered at Bangalore with the Company's mining and beneficiation facilities located at Kudremukh and iron oxide pelletisation complex and Pig Iron unit at the well connected coastal city of Mangalore in Karnataka. The 3.5 million-tonne capacity Pellet Plant complex comprises of the Filter Plant, Wet grinding mills, mechanised shiploading unit, 28-mw captive power plant, Roll Press, Pelletisation discs, Furnace etc.,

The Company added to its fleet a new unit of Pig Iron complex known as KIOCL Ltd located at the Bykampady Industrial area in Mangalore by merger with it w.e.f. 01.04.2007. The merged unit, named as Blast Furnace Unit (BFU) possesses a Blast Furnace of 350 cu. mtrs to produce 2,30,000 tonnes per annum of high grade pig iron of low phosphorous and low sulphur content. Both Pelletisation Complex and Blast Furnace Unit have their own captive power plants to meet their energy requirement. The company was established to develop the mine and plant facilities to produce 7.5 million tonnes of concentrate per year. The mine and plant facilities were commissioned in 1980 and the first shipment of concentrate was made in October 1981.

A pelletisation plant with a capacity of 3 million tones per year was commissioned in 1987 for production of high quality blast furnace and direct reduction grade pellets for export. Legend and wild beauty, Kudremukh, in the State of Karnataka, is known to have one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world. The annual capacity of the Pellet Plant is to produce about 3.5 million tonnes and 2.16 lakh tonnes of Pig Iron required by the discerning consumers from the steel industry worldwide and for the domestic market.

The idea of beneficiating the ore deposits was first proposed when several Japanese companies came together with the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), a Government of India undertaking, evincing an interest in such a project. Pilot studies suggested that the surface ore with 38% iron could be enriched to a concentrate of 67% iron with available new technologies. The concentrate could be transported to Mangalore, on the coast of the Arabian Sea, 110 k.m. to the west of Kudremukh. But global steel industry went into decline in the late sixties. The Japanese withdrew. Interest was revived in early 1970 when Iran drew up its plans for an ambitious domestic steel industry and was looking for a reliable supplier of iron ore. Kudremukh seemed ideal, abundant and just across the sea and an agreement was reached.Initially Iran agreed to finance the project in the form of $630 million loan. 150 million tonnes of concentrate was to be delivered over a 15 year period. The company was formed in April 1976. The 7.5 million ton annual capacity project was to be completed in August 1980. Shipments were to commence in September 1980.

Iron ore trade in the world is fiercely competitive. KIOCL has now established itself as a reliable supplier of iron ore concentrates and iron oxide pellets for many a discerning customer in the international market. On account of the marketing acumen and crisis management skills of KIOCL the company could adapt itself admirably to the changed market situation caused by loss of the Iranian market. KIOCL's products are now exported to China, Japan, Iran and Taiwan in the international market besides catering to a number of consumers in the domestic market such as Ispat Industries, Vikram Ispat and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Limited.

The largest iron ore mine in India, is designed to produce 22.6 million ton's of crude ore per year with a daily production capacity of ROM 100,000 tones. The mine is planned  for  a  three - shift  operation. Blast  holes  of  12¼ '  dia are drilled in 14m benches. The  blasting  is  carried  out  using  slurry explosives. Blasted material is  loaded by 10.7 cu.m electrical shovel into large dumpers of 120 metric ton capacity.

Awards & Achievements:-

• The company was the Country’s prestigious 100% export oriented unit and Mini Rathna Company.
• The public sector Company, under the Ministry of Steel, has a good track record of commitment to quality, customer satisfaction and environment management system that propelled it to achieve ISO 9001:2000, ISO 1401:1996 and OHSAS 18001:1999 for for Occupational Hazards and Safety Management System, headquartered at Bangalore.KIOCL’s performance record has been consistently good year after year and counted among the top ten PSUs,
• Conferred with MOU AWARD for the year 1999-2000 and 2000-01 for achieving “Excellent” rating in achieving MOU targets for these years.
• The KIOCL bagged the prestigious CAPEXIL Special Export Award instituted by CAPEXIL, in recognition of outstanding export performance of Iron Ore Concentrate & Iron Oxide Pellets for the year 2005-06.
• Export Excellence Award 2005-06 in Mineral and Mineral based Products sector, instituted by Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry for the year 2005-06.FIMI Environment Award for outstanding achievement in Environment Management System for the year 2004-05Ispat Rajbasha Shield Samman in recognition of remarkable progress in the field of Progressive use of Official language Hindi and its implementations.

Future Plans:-

Against the backdrop of solid performance record and financial strength, Company has embarked on a plan for diversifying its operations: in the long term, considering possibilities to venture beyond the State of Karnataka, in search of Iron Ore Deposits, which can be gainfully exploited by leveraging on the expertise available with the Company.A joint venture with M/s.Steel Authority of India Ltd to exploit the Iron Ore Deposits at Barsua, Kalta and Taldih in Orissa is in progress. Alongside, efforts are on to tie up alternate sources of iron ore to sustain Pellet Plant operations in future and efforts are on to get a mining lease in Karnataka.  The Company has completed all preliminary works to set up Ductile Iron Spun Pipe Plant at Mangalore.