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Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd.

(A Government of Gujarat Undertaking)

Corporate History

1963

The Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited, (GMDC) was set up / established / constituted in the year 1963, with the mandate to develop major mineral resources in the State of Gujarat. The Company commenced its operations, with a small sand crushing plant at Surendranagar which supplied graded sand to consumers all over the State. The sand was used by various manufacturers of sodium silicate and glass industries.

1968

The next project, set up by GMDC, in the year 1968 was beneficiation of fluorspar, a rare mineral essential for basic industries, like refining of steel manufacturing of aluminium, hydrochloric acid, foundry flux and welding electrodes among others.

1970

By early 70's, the Industrialisation of Gujarat took off at a rapid pace, particularly in the chemical and textile industries, which required massive quantities of fuel to sustain the growth. GMDC, therefore commenced mining of lignite in Kutch district. Availability of lignite as an efficient and cheaper substitute for coal provided the impetus for industrial growth of Gujarat. The production of lignite, demand driven, continued to increase and reached a level of 5 million tonnes by the year 1997-98.

Meanwhile, based on further exploration in other parts of Gujarat, more deposits of lignite were identified in Bharuch district. GMDC started mining operations at Rajpardi near Ankleshwar in 1984, and has been supplying lignite to majority of the textile industries from this mine.

Though lignite dominates the current activities of the Corporation, GMDC continues to pursue its path of expansion based on mineral resources, particularly in the fields of lignite based power generation, as well as continues to look into the development of other minor and major mineral resources in the State of Gujarat.