Steel Minister Mr Beni Prasad Verma on Tuesday said the final agreement between NMDC and Russian steel major Severstal for jointly setting up a 3 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant in Karnataka would be signed next month, when the Russian Prime Minister will be visiting India.

“The Russian Prime Minister is scheduled to visit India in December. At that time, the final agreement between NMDC and Severstal would be signed for the steel plant,” Mr Verma, who recently came back from Russia, told reporters here.

India’s largest iron ore miner NMDC and Russia’s second biggest steel maker Severstal had, in December last year, signed a MoU to form an equal joint venture for setting up a steel plant in the southern state.

During Mr Verma’s three-day visit to Russia, starting November 8, the two firms signed an ‘Implementation Protocol’ to take the venture closer to the signing of the final agreement.

The protocol suggests that NMDC and Severstal would fully meet the joint venture’s captive requirements of both iron ore and coking coal so that it becomes fully integrated for these primary raw materials.

“Until the captive assets are fully developed, NMDC and Severstal take the responsibilities to supply, respectively, iron ore and coking coal to the JV at market basis from their existing assets or alternative sources,” NMDC had said.

NMDC Chairman and Managing Director Mr Rana Som said total capital expenditure for the proposed facility would be Rs 19,000 crore and it would be funded with a 70:30 debt equity ratio.

Mr Som also said the company was in the final stages of negotiation with two mining companies — one in Russia and the other in Mozambique — for acquiring of stake.

However, NMDC has dropped the idea of buying stake in coking coal asset of another Russia company Vincy Coal.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW