Giant Austrian-based plantmaker Siemens VAI Mining and Metals Technologies has announced the receipt of an order from Indian steelmaker Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) for a new basic oxygen furnace (BOF) converter steel mill which will be built at the company's Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in Bhilai, India.
The project, which has an order volume of approximately €200 million, includes the engineering and the supply of three BOF converters, including primary and secondary dedusting facilities, converter gas recovery, electrics and automation. The converters, which will be successively started up beginning in the second quarter of 2011, will have an annual crude steel capacity of more than four million mt.
BSP, located 40 kilometers west of Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh, is India's largest producer of rails and heavy steel plates and is also a major producer of structural steels. Currently, BSP has an annual production capacity of more than three million mt of steel. In response to the growing market demand for steel in India, output at BSP will be increased to seven million mt by 2011 as part of an ambitious expansion program.