The Hindu Business Line : SAIL charting new mining proposal — Dry beneficiation plant at Chhattisgarh

HAVING opted for the deployment of a different kind of technology at the Rowghat iron ore mines, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is firming up a fresh mining proposal for submission to the Chhattisgarh Government.

The deployment of the new technology would also help SAIL reducethe total area it had earlier sought from the State Government for mining at Rowghat, located at the Bastar region.

Mr R. P. Singh, Managing Director of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), said the new proposal is being prepared in consultation with the Indian Bureau of Mines and would be ready by February.

SAIL has decided not to set up a wet beneficiation facility at the Rowghat mines, as planned earlier, and is planning to set up a dry beneficiation plant instead. "The ore mined at Rowghat would first be crushed there and then transported to the Dalli Rajah mines where we already have a wet beneficiation unit and that would be utilised for the Rowghat ores," Mr Singh told Business Line.

Due to change in technology, the total area required for the mining activity would be reduced by nearly 50 per cent, he said. Earlier, SAIL had asked for 2,400 hectares of land at Rowghat, of which approximately 900 hectares was to have been kept aside as forest cover. The 1,500 hectares was supposed to be mined and it included the wet beneficiation plant. In the new proposal, SAIL may be asking for only 750-800 hectares. Mr Singh clarified that the mandatory forest cover is no longer a part of the total mining plan.

He was, however, not categorical on the amount of land that SAIL would be seeking now. "Let us prepare the final plan, and then we would know the total area needed," he said.

Mr Singh added that the new mining plan, once submitted to the Chattisgarh Government, would immediately be forwarded to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests for final clearance.

Bhilai Steel Plant is hoping to register an annual crude steel production of 4.9 million tonnes (mt) and saleable steel production of 4.2 mt this fiscal against 4.58 mt and 3.93 mt respectively in 2004-05.

Mr Singh said that poor steel prices would affect the profitability of all leading primary producers, including SAIL. Despite the fall in prices, the cost of raw materials has increased, he added.

New crushing plant at Bolani

To meet its growing iron ore needs, SAIL's Raw Material Division has put up a crushing and screening plant of 600 tonnes per hour capacity at the Bolani Ores Mine. The loading facility is also augmented.

Bolani is the principal iron ore source for Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP). Increasing its mining capacity is crucial to meet the plant's growing iron ore need. With the current production of 1.58 million tonnes (mt) of saleable steel, DSP needs 3.6 mt of iron ore and it is supplied by the Bolani mines.

DSP is now targeting 2.6 mt of saleable steel within the next seven years (the target is also in the SAIL Corporate Plan 2012.) At that production level, DSP would need 5.3 mt of iron ore.

Bolani also supplies some quantity to Bokaro Steel Plant. Bolani had registered an output of 3.41 mt in 2005, marking a growth of 3.33 per cent over the previous year.

In fact, in the last calendar year, SAIL's iron ore production reached an all-time high of 13.34 mt. Besides Bolani, the Meghataburu and Kiriburu iron ore mines produced 3.81 mt and 3.73 mt, respectively.

The flux (limestone and dolomite) mines of SAIL also despatched 1.27 mt, recording a growth of 5.22 per cent over the previous year.