The Hindu Business Line : SAIL investing Rs 1,000 cr in 3 pellet plants

New Delhi, Oct. 1 Steel Authority of India Ltd would be investing around Rs 1,000 crore for setting up at least three greenfield pellet plants. The total capacity would be 6 million tonnes (mt) and will help the company ramp up its production capacity to 24 million tonnes by the end of the 11th Plan.

“The company is looking at an investment of between Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years to set up three to four pellet plants with a total capacity of 6 mt (2 to 3 mt each) to meet the growing needs of the company,” Mr S.K. Roongta, Chairman, SAIL, said on the sidelines of an international seminar on iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation here on Monday.

SAIL proposes to set up the plants near the Dalli-Rajhara mines in Chhattisgarh, Taldih mines in Orissa and near its captive mines in Jharkhand.

“We plan to use the pellets supplied by these plants in the various blast furnaces to augment steel production,” Mr Roongta said.

The company is also aiming to ensure 100 per cent beneficiation of low-grade iron ore and make it useful in our plants. “The company intends to extensively use iron ore fines and increase beneficiation of the existing mines,” he added.

Mr Roongta also said that the country’s steel sector was growing at 10-12 per cent per annum and to maintain the tempo, it would have to find ways to produce steel at competitive cost.

“One of the ways is to extensively use pellets, which would reduce the quantity of iron ore rejects,” he pointed out.

Earlier, while addressing the conference, the Steel Secretary, Mr R.S. Pandey, said that the compounded annual growth rate in India’s steel sector for the next couple of years has been pegged at 16 per cent.

“With respect to the global scenario, China and India would be key drivers of the growth of steel in the next couple of years. The CHINDIA phenomena will be decisive factor in the global steel sector in the coming years,” he said.

Mr Pandey said that the domestic steel manufacturers will have to find ways to ensure better utilisation of iron ore fines.

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