A Miniratna PSU was originally set up in the year 1896 as Central Province Prospecting Syndicate which was later renamed as Central Provinces Manganese Ore Company Limited (CPMO), a British Company incorporated in the UK. In 1962, as a result of an agreement between the Government of India and CPMO, the assets of the latter were taken over by the Government and MOIL was formed with 51% capital held between the Govt. of India and the State Governments of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and the balance 49% by CPMO. It was in 1977, the balance 49% shareholding was acquired from CPMO and MOIL became a 100% Government Company under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.

     At present, MOIL operates 10 mines, six located in the Nagpur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra and four in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. All these mines are about a century old. Except 3, rest of the mines are worked through underground method. The Balaghat Mine is the largest mine of the Company which produces one of the best quality manganese ore in the country & it is also the deepest underground manganese mine in Asia. The mine has now reached a depth of over 500 meters from the surface. Dongri Buzurg Mine located in the Bhandara district of Maharashtra is the largest opencast mine that produces manganese dioxide ore used by dry battery industry. This ore in the form of manganous oxide is used as micro-nutrient for cattle feed and fertilizers. MOIL fulfills about 70% of the total requirement of dioxide ore in India. The total production of manganese ore from all the mines constitutes about 65% of requirement of the country. At present, the annual production is around 1.4 million tonnes which is expected to grow in the coming years. MOIL has set up Ferro Manganese Plant (10,000 TPY) and Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide (EMD) Plant (1000 TPY) as per its diversification plan for value addition to manganese ore. MOIL is further considering setting up Captive Power Plant, expanding the capacity of ferro manganese plant and setting up a new Silico Manganese Plant to meet the ever increasing demand of the ferro alloys globally.
 MOIL is also the largest employer in the manganese mining industry with a total work force of about 7000 employees.