The Bolivian government has requested that Indian steelmaker Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. start manufacturing steel at its El Mutún iron ore works by 2014, its fifth year of iron ore production, according to the Bolivian Agency of Information (ABI).
Jindal signed a contract with the Bolivian government in 2007 to mine the Mutún iron ore deposit, which is the largest of its kind in the world. Jindal agreed to invest US$1.5 billion initially and an additional US$2.5 billion over the following eight years. The investment also includes on-site steelworks.
Bolivia's minister of mining and metallurgy, Luis Alberto Echazu, stated, "Jindal will begin 'early production' of the minerals to exploit and export up to one million tonnes of concentrates, as the clause in the production of the contract describes, which is now law. (Jindal) will start up, in a few months, the first loads of this production, which also implies the anticipation of (steel production)."
Iron ore output at Mutún has already been delayed by approximately six months, as the company has had difficulty reducing the high-phosphorous content in its iron ore. The production of iron ore concentrates for exports and for steelmaking at Mutún is now scheduled to start in late 2009.