Team News Riveting
Raipur, December 14
The efforts of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship entity of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), to develop small iron-ore mines to meet the demand of raw material, had started yielding the desired results.
After a series of clearances from regulatory authorities and rigorous efforts by the Mines department, the first truck-load of iron ore from D3 Block of Dulki mines was despatched on 11 Dec 20, BSP said in a tweet. With reserves of 4.4 million tonne (MT), this will bridge the gap between demand and supply of ore to Plant, it added.
The development of Dulki mines located in Dalli-Rajhara had been part of SAIL-BSP’s plan to explore small mines located in the vicinity of its mining projects. The Dalli-Rajhara complex had been feeding BSP for the last six decades and its reserve had been depleting fast.
BSP is the SAIL’s only entity to have captive iron ore mines. The raw material division (RMD) of the company normally supplies the steel making raw material to the other facilities.
After the successful commissioning of Dulki mines, BSP now eyes to develop Kalwar-Nagur mines in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district that has a proven reserve of 7.5 MT. The company plans to produce 1 MT.
The environment clearance for the project had been approved while BSP would now have to obtain other statutory clearances before starting production by October 2021, according to its plan.
The operation of two minor mines would help BSP to meet its raw material requirement till the Rowghat mines starts. BSP is trying to get its greenfield project of Rowghat iron ore mine, having an estimated reserve of 511 MT, started as soon as possible.
Till then, BSP had taken a big leap forward to become self-reliant as far as the raw material requirement was concerned. Literally, an AtmaNirbhar initiative of SAIL’s highest profit-making unit.
