Mining operations

The Ram Rama mine.

Manganese ore, worked both from surface and from below, in the village that gives the mine its name — Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh.

100,000 t Current capacity per annum
250,000 t Capacity after expansion
2 Methods: open cast & underground
5 Ministry of Mines rating
Two methods

Surface and underground, worked together.

Method 01

Open cast

A fully mechanised operation. Once the geologist has established the reserve and the resource is confirmed as workable, extensive excavation begins: overburden is stripped and moved to designated dumping areas, and the mineral beneath is taken out with excavators, dozers, drilling machines and tippers of various sizes.

Mechanised · drilling, excavation, haulage
Method 02

Underground

Where the ore runs deep, access is by incline or vertical shaft and the working is a full underground operation. Extracted material is brought to the surface siding, dumped, and enters the same sizing and grading route as open cast ore.

Incline & shaft access
Ore to product

From run-of-mine to graded ore.

Everything the furnace receives has been through the same sequence. Nothing usable is discarded — sub-grade material is stacked separately so it can be put to work later.

  1. Prospecting

    Drilling and survey work until the geologist confirms the reserve and the area is established as suitable for mining.

  2. Overburden

    Material above the ore body is excavated and moved to the designated overburden dump.

  3. Extraction

    The mineral is taken out — mechanised at surface, by incline or shaft below ground.

  4. Breaking

    Run-of-mine ore is moved to the breaking site and reduced to sizes the furnace can take.

  5. Crushing

    Material passes through the crusher for consistent sizing.

  6. Segregation

    Ore is separated and sorted ahead of grading.

  7. Grading

    Sorted into defined grades, stacked by grade and size, and dispatched accordingly.

  8. Sub-grade recovery

    Waste and sub-grade mineral is stacked in a designated area for later utilisation rather than lost.

Underground working
Crushing, sizing and grade stacks
Recognition

Judged against the industry's own standard.

The mine has received numerous awards from the Ministry of Mines over the years, including five-star ratings — considered the gold standard in Indian mining.

The rating is not a marketing exercise. It is an assessment against mining parameters and standards across the whole operation, and holding it means the way we work is examined by people whose job is to find fault with it.

Alongside it, our processes and our health and safety monitoring are ISO certified.

Safety and environment

The district

A mine is the local economy here.

Ram Rama is remote and largely tribal. The crop is seasonal and there is no irrigation, so for much of the year the mine is the employment. It trains people, upskills them and pays wages that change a household's standing.

Over a century that produces something you can see: workers whose children took education and returned as foremen and managers, and people trained at Ram Rama who went on to build careers at mines across the country.

The longer story

Enquiries

Arrange a site visit.

We are glad to show buyers the mine and the plant. Get in touch and we will organise it.