Indian state-owned steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has announced that the new basic oxygen furnace (BOF) converter and the new plate mill at its Rourkela steel plant have commenced operations.
SAIL stated that, with commencement of production at this new 150 mt BOF and 1 million mt plate mill, all the major facilities under the modernization and expansion program at Rourkela steel plant have been operationalized. The annual capacity of the plant has now increased from 2 million mt of pig iron and 1.9 million mt of crude steel to 4.5 million mt of pig iron and 4.3 million mt of crude steel respectively.
SAIL chairman C.S. Verma said that the company has plans for Rourkela's further expansion to 10.8 million mt per year as part of SAIL's vision to attain a capacity of 50 million mt of pig iron by 2025.