Steel Authority of India's (SAIL) mines which come under its Raw Materials Division (RMD)notched up iron ore production by 25% in January 2017 compared to corresponding period last year (CPLY). In January, RMDs iron ore mines at Meghahatuburu, Kiriburu, Gua, and Bolani individually clocked a growth of 25.7%, 24.7%, 20.6%, and 15.7% against CPLY.Total production in April'16January' 17 period touched 16.02 million tonne (mt) clocking a growth of 7.1% over CPLY. RMD aims at achieving highest ever iron ore production of 19.2 mt by the end of March 2017.RMD has been expanding the capacity of its mines in line with expansion in SAIL's hot metal output. It has opened new iron ore mines at Taldih in Odisha. The latter will help in meeting the enhanced requirement of SAIL's steel plants. SAIL has plans to develop fully mechanized mines at Taldih with capacity of 4.2 mt per annum.The mines of RMD in the eastern region primarily feed iron ore to SAIL's steel plants at Rourkela, Durgapur, Bokaro, and Burnpur. In addition to that RMD also meets the demand of Bhilai Steel Plant.