KOLKATA: NMDC , the country's largest iron ore producer , plans to seek additional mine allotments from the government and may participate in auctions as it gears up to increase production more than three-fold over the next five years to meet growing demand from steel manufacturers.The government has set state-run NMDC an iron ore production target of 100 million tonne by 2020-21, up from 31 million tonne last year. Steel manufacturers will need 500 million tonnes of ore annually by 2025, when India's output of the alloy is expected to increase to 300 million tonne.Increasing production to meet the goal was the key item on the agenda of a two-day meeting of the company's top brass in Srinagar that ended on Monday . The task for NMDC is all the more daunting because some of its prospective mines are located in areas prone to Maoist attacks.Global iron ore prices have been falling over the past few months due to easing demand from China and higher production by mining companies.“The iron ore market may not be favourable at the moment. However, we have to build capacity for the future. We are having a strategy workshop to give shape to this plan,“ Narendra Kothari, chairman and managing director of NMDC, said by phone from Srinagar.While the company has cash reserves of almost ` . 20,000 crore to carry out its plans, Hyderabad-based NMDC will also need allotment of new mining leases to expand capacity . The company is also keen to participate in mineral auctions to get new mines.NMDC's joint ventures with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh state mineral companies are also expected to contribute significantly to growth in output. The company plans to set up two new slurry pipelines linking the mines with Vizag port to carry iron ore.Each of these pipelines will have a capacity of 15 million tonne and cost about ` . 2,500 crore each.NMDC expects to produce 35 million tonnes of iron ore in the current financial year. New production capacity is expected to be added by August from the 11B mine at Bailadila deposit in Chhattisgarh and the Kumaraswamy mine in Karnataka, each of which can produce 7 million tonnes of ore at full capacity .NMDC had earlier planned to produce 65 million tonnes of ore by 2018-19 and 100 million tonnes by 2025. However, in December 2014, the mines ministry sent out a directive revising the targets.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been asserting the importance of conserving domestic ore instead of exporting the raw material.“If we can process our mineral resources through value addition and sell it abroad we can increase our financial resources. The country's youth should get an opportunity to work in manufacturing and banks should make funds available to facilitate it,“ Modi said last month at Rourkela.