Indian steel producer Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL), which fired up its blast furnace on Thursday after completion of capital repairs, is planning to commence production from its Koira captive iron ore mines in the current year, company sources said on Friday, May 4.
Following assured supplies of iron ore from its captive mine and completion of capital repairs of its blast furnace, NINL will be able to operate its furnace at 100 percent capacity and produce 3,500 mt of hot metal per day, while production from the furnace could only reach 50-55 percent of its 1.1 million mt capacity earlier, the sources said.
Now that capital repair of the blast furnace has been completed, NINL will also commence production of billets after restarting the steel smelting shop, the sources added.
The Koira captive iron ore mines have been granted environment and forest clearances by the Indian government for production of 2 million mt per year of ore from estimated reserves of 102 million mt, the sources said.
NINL which operates an integrated steel mill in the eastern Indian state of Odisha is jointly owned by the Indian government’s trading firm MMTC Limited, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha and Odisha Mining Corporation.