On May 9, the Indian state-owned steelmaker Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) said that it aims to increase capacity in its only subsidiary Maharashtra Elektrosmelt Ltd., with the objective of fully satisfying the ferroalloy needs of SAIL's integrated steel plants which are currently in capacity expansion mode.
Maharashtra Elektrosmelt, based in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, is India's largest manganese-based ferroalloys producer with a product mix that includes carbon ferromanganese (FeMn) and silicomanganese (SiMn).
SAIL's chairman Mr. C.S. Verma said that Maharashtra Elektrosmelt's expansion plan would include the setting up of two new furnaces, "not only to cater to the post-expansion requirements of the SAIL plants, but also of other steel plants in India." The SAIL plants' post-expansion requirement of ferroalloys would be to the tune of 375,000 metric tons. The total investment outlay may reach about Rupees 5 billion ($111.72 million). In addition, Mr. Verma said that Maharashtra Elektrosmelt should also explore the possibility of setting up facilities to produce ferronickel for the SAIL plants.
Power constitutes about 35-40 percent of ferromanganese production costs. In view of this, SAIL is also planning to set up a power plant consisting of two 45 MW units at Maharashtra Elektrosmelt. This will entail additional investment of around Rupees 5 billion ($111.72 million).