India’s RINL needs captive iron ore mine for further capacity expansion

Indian government-owned Rasthriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) plans to ramp up capacity to 20 million mt per year depending on the steel mill's access to captive iron ore mines, an official at India's Ministry of Steel said on Wednesday, March 11.
 
In the first phase, RINL, which operates a 6.3 million mt per year steel mill in the southern Indian port town of Vishakhapatnam, will increase its capacity by 4 million mt per year, entailing an investment of $3.5 billion, the official said.
 
However, since the steel mill has no captive iron ore mines, further capacity expansion to 20 million mt will require the securing of captive iron ore reserves as raw material purchases will not be viable for larger capacities, he added.
 
The official also said that the political wrangling over allocation of the Bayyaram iron ore reserves in southern India has been a setback to the future expansion plans of the single-location steel mill of RINL.