Indian government owned and operated steel mill, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is planning to import iron ore fines, lumps and calibrated lump ores from overseas to feed its plant located in southern port town of Vishakhapatnam, sources said on Tuesday, October 24.
Although the global expression of interest (EoI) floated by RINL did not specify the intended import volumes, the company has sought details on annual supplies that could be contracted by overseas mining leaseholders, indicating that the Indian steel company is looking at medium-term supply agreements with foreign lease holders, the sources added.
RINL has set a deadline of November 3, 2017 for submission of details like specification of ore quality, status of lease holding and annual quantity commitments from foreign suppliers, the sources said.
RINL’s 6.3 million mt per year steel mill is ramping up capacity to 7.4 million mt per year but it is the only government owned steel company which does not have any captive iron ore mine for raw material security.