India’s Essar Group is planning to invest an estimated $1.48 billion in an export-oriented iron ore pellet plant of 14 million mt per year capacity in the eastern state of Odisha, a company official said on Monday, December 5.
An iron ore fines beneficiation plant will be located in the Keonjhar district of the state and the pellet plant will be located at the port town of Paradip, connected by a 250 km slurry pipeline to the Keonjhar iron ore mines.
Essar Group recently concluded an asset monetization plan netting an estimated $25 billion, which among others included the sale of port and logistical assets to ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel Limited (AMNS).
It may be noted that the Essar Group had earlier operated Essar Steel with a mill located at Hazira in the western state of Gujarat, which was subsequently acquired by ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel through the bankruptcy resolution process.
