Kolkata: The Bolivian Government has given Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) an exploration licence for the El Mutun iron ore facility.
Mining operations will begin on a small scale by the end of 2008 and steel production in the integrated steel plant will start by 2011, Naveen Jindal, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSPL, said here on Friday.
The project by JSPL along with its subsidiary Jindal Steel Bolivia (JSB), at an investment of $2.1 billion is the largest investment by an Indian company in Latin America and is also the largest foreign investment in a single project in Bolivia so far.
“The Bolivian project is going well. We got the exploration licence yesterday and it will take 6 months for the testing of material to be completed. By the end of the year we will also start moving some iron ore and steel production will start by 2011,” Jindal told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by Millennium Mams.
Of the total six million tonnes direct reduced iron (DRI) to be got from the El Mutun facility, two million tonnes steel will be produced initially, he added.
Most of the steel produced in the plant will be of long product category, he said. Half of the produce will be sold internally in Bolivia while the rest will be exported, he said.
The project is a culmination of an international bidding process begun by the Bolivian government, which JSPL won in May 2006. El Mutun, situated in east Bolivia, is considered to be the world’s largest iron ore mining area with reserves of 40 billion tonnes. The Bolivian Government has promised to supply the natural gas required for the project.
On the domestic front, JSPL has plans to set up the first phase of a 12 million tonne steel plant at Andul in Orissa and a six million tonne plant in Jharkhand by 2010. It also plans to ramp up production capacity at its Raigarh plant from three million tonnes to six million tonnes, Mr Jindal said. “We have acquired most of the land in Jharkhand and Orissa and have also got hold of a coal mine in Orissa.”
The company has acquired a coal block for a power plant in Jharkhand, he added.
When asked about the steel price crisis, Jindal said, “the prices have peaked and will not go up from here. I see them coming down soon.”
Mining operations will begin on a small scale by the end of 2008 and steel production in the integrated steel plant will start by 2011, Naveen Jindal, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSPL, said here on Friday.
The project by JSPL along with its subsidiary Jindal Steel Bolivia (JSB), at an investment of $2.1 billion is the largest investment by an Indian company in Latin America and is also the largest foreign investment in a single project in Bolivia so far.
“The Bolivian project is going well. We got the exploration licence yesterday and it will take 6 months for the testing of material to be completed. By the end of the year we will also start moving some iron ore and steel production will start by 2011,” Jindal told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by Millennium Mams.
Of the total six million tonnes direct reduced iron (DRI) to be got from the El Mutun facility, two million tonnes steel will be produced initially, he added.
Most of the steel produced in the plant will be of long product category, he said. Half of the produce will be sold internally in Bolivia while the rest will be exported, he said.
The project is a culmination of an international bidding process begun by the Bolivian government, which JSPL won in May 2006. El Mutun, situated in east Bolivia, is considered to be the world’s largest iron ore mining area with reserves of 40 billion tonnes. The Bolivian Government has promised to supply the natural gas required for the project.
On the domestic front, JSPL has plans to set up the first phase of a 12 million tonne steel plant at Andul in Orissa and a six million tonne plant in Jharkhand by 2010. It also plans to ramp up production capacity at its Raigarh plant from three million tonnes to six million tonnes, Mr Jindal said. “We have acquired most of the land in Jharkhand and Orissa and have also got hold of a coal mine in Orissa.”
The company has acquired a coal block for a power plant in Jharkhand, he added.
When asked about the steel price crisis, Jindal said, “the prices have peaked and will not go up from here. I see them coming down soon.”
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