State-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is likely to finalise within a month, a joint venture with Japan’s Kobe Steel for a 0.5 million tonne (MT) mill in West Bengal to manufacture special grade steel.

“SAIL is finalising a joint venture with Kobe Steel and it is likely to be signed in a month’s span. The total investment in the project will be $400 million (about Rs 2,000 crore,” Steel Minister Mr Beni Prasad Verma told PTI.

The JV will help SAIL acquire the Japanese company’s patented technology, used for value added applications. The new unit will put into use Kobe Steel’s iron-making technology to make nuggets

Mr Verma said that after the initial 0.5 MT project, to be implemented at Alloy Steels Plant at Durgapur, its capacity will be doubled to 1 MT by adding another 0.5 MT module.

As far as technology goes, this will be a first-of-its-kind venture for SAIL. Mr Verma said both the companies are likely to have equal stake in the JV.

Meanwhile, SAIL is also in advance talks to finalise a joint venture with South Korea’s POSCO for a 1.5 million tonne steel plant at Bokaro entailing about Rs 16,000 crore investment, Mr Verma said.

Last month, SAIL Chairman Mr CS Verma had said that Korean steel maker Posco will have management control in the JV.

SAIL and Posco have been in discussions to set up a 3 million tonnes a year steel plant at Bokaro in Jharkhand for more than a year.

The proposed plant with the use of Posco’s patented Finex technology will produce very specialised steels, mainly for the automobile sector.

Finex is an environment-friendly, iron-making process where iron ore fines are directly used.

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