SAIL, Kobe Steel to form JV [Feb 2012]

February 10, 2012 6:52 am

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Kobe Steel of Japan to establish a joint venture company to carry out a detailed feasibility study for a commercial ITmk3® ironmaking plant in India. Provisionally called SAIL-KOBE Iron India Private Limited, the proposed 50-50 joint venture will be headquartered in New Delhi.
With a capacity to produce 500,000 metric tonnes of iron nuggets per year, the plant would be constructed at SAIL’s Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur in West Bengal. The project would use iron ore from SAIL’s mines. Non-coking coal, sourced within India, will be used as the reductant in the ITmk3 Process.
“The joint venture will bring about an era of path-breaking technological collaboration between the two advanced and modern companies, heralding a new dawn for the Indian steel industry,” said SAIL Chairman CS Verma.
ITmk3 technology is the latest generation iron making technology where iron nuggets are produced by using iron ore fines and non coking coal. Conventional BF route requires iron ore lumps, sinter and coking coal to produce pig iron. ITmk3 technology produces high quality iron nuggets and the technology is also environment friendly.
Kobe Steel and SAIL will have the right to utilise the iron nuggets produced at the Durgapur plant in proportion to their equity share in the joint venture for their own use, or the joint venture may sell the nuggets directly to the market.