State-owned Manganese Ore India Ltd will invest Rs 1,200 crore in a phased manner to increase production to over 2 million tonne by 2020, a top official said today.

"The Company has ambitious plans to expand and diversify and was taking up several mining projects for execution. These projects have been undertaken to augment production level to 2.2 million tonnes by 2020 and invest Rs 1,200 crores in a phased manner," MOIL Chairman and Managing Director G P Kundargi said.

MOIL supplies 42 per cent of the total requirement of ore in the country, and 75 per cent of it is high grade Ore, Kundargi told reporters yesterday.

It is estimated that India holds about 20 per cent of Manganese Ore reserves of the world, he said, adding that while South Africa occupies top position globally and caters to 80 per cent requirement, India is ranked 7th.

Kundargi said the company has set up 1,000-tonne capacity Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide (EMD) plant which is doing well, although demand for battery (cell) manufacturing companies have dropped considerably.

MOIL is exploring possibilities of joint venture production of ferro manganese and silico manganese with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) for setting up ferro alloy plants at Bhilai (CG) and Vizag (AP) respectively.

The JV companies are working towards expeditious installation of the plants.

Similarly, MOIL, in association with National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC), as part of its global expansion, has invited proposals for Manganese ore and other minerals through expression of interest. It has initiated plans for acquiring mining properties in other countries like South Africa, Brazil and Australia.