India’s state owned and largest steel grade merchant pig iron manufacturer Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) announced capital repairs of its 15-year old blast furnace late in November 2017. With repairs finalized, the Odisha-based entity will return to the production of pig iron. With the improved hot metal production, NINL also plans to regain steel billet production after restarting the steel melting shop (SMS) in full capacity.
NINL has set up a 1.1-million-ton integrated iron and steel plant at Kalinga Nagar, Odisha. The products at the blast furnace prior to the capital repairs were steel billets, pig iron and LAM coke along with nut coke, coke breeze, crude tar, ammonium sulphate, and granulated slag.
The company expects to start mining operation at its 110 million mt captive mines at Koira as clearance is being finalized from the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) in India.