The Hindu Business Line : Orissa Govt in pellet-making pact with Brahmani

Bhubaneswar March 15 Continuing its exercise to involve more corporate houses in the current industrialisation process in the State, the Orissa Government on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with Brahmani River Pellet Limited (BRPL) for setting up a 4 million tonne per annum capacity Iron Ore Pelletisation Complex.

BRPL has been promoted by Stemcor Group, a UK-based company that has a presence in India for the past 50 years. The pellet plant will be set up at an investment of Rs 1,485 crore and be made operational within four years of the signing of the MoU.

The plant will adopt the proven Travelling Grate Technology developed by Outkompu (formerly Lurgi of West Germany), and would convert the low-grade ultra fines generated by iron ore mines into value-added pellets to be used by the steel mills and DRI plants in Orissa. BRPL would also use slurry transportation technology which would de-bottleneck the over stressed road and rail network in the State.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Oppenheimer, Stemcor's Chairman, said that Stemcor would leverage its expertise in international steel trade and pellet making and slurry transportation in Australia, to set up the facility for BRPL. A quality project team has been deployed for the proposed project, he added.

The MoU was signed by Managing Director of BRPL, Mr K.V. Rao and L. N. Gupta, Secretary of the State Government's Steel and Mines Department. Mr Oppenheimer and the Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, and the State Steel and Mines Minister, Mr Padmanabha Behera, were present.

In his address, Mr Patnaik expressed hope that the project will enable value-addition to the iron ore mines inside the State which will not only improve availability of raw material to steel plants but also generate employment for 350 persons, both directly and indirectly. The project will contribute Rs 450 crore approximately towards taxes and duties to State and Central exchequer, he said.

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