India’s JSW Steel Limited has commenced prospecting at the Gadhchiroli iron ore block in the western state of Maharashtra, acquired through an auction three years ago, as a precursor to constructing a 25 million mt greenfield steel mill at the location, company chairman Sajjan Jindal said in a statement on Tuesday, May 26.
“Gadhchiroli is ideally suited for steel manufacturing because of its proximity to iron ore reserves. The integrated steel plant will take off once we secure the iron ore mines,” he said.
JSW Steel Limited has a composite prospecting-cum-mining license for iron ore at Gadhchiroli along with four other companies. Currently, only Lloyds Metal and Energy Limited (LMEL) has iron ore mining operations in the region.
Jindal said that the steel mill at Gadhchiroli was part of the company’s plans to ramp up steelmaking capacity to 50 million mt per year by 2030, which also includes a steel mill in Odisha in collaboration with Posco, South Korea.