Cho Soung-Sik, chairman and managing director of Posco India, today said the company was confident of getting the crucial iron ore mining licence by September, and will start construction of the Rs 52,000-crore steel plant in April next year so as to begin production from December 2010."We hope to get a mining licence next month. The Orissa government has identified the mines, and may shortly send its recommendations for the grant of licence to the centre," Cho Soung-Sik told PTI.The 12 million tonne per annum plant would need 600 million tonne iron ore over 30 years, he said, adding that the identified mines were enough but refused to give details.After the initial hiccups, the state government has already sanctioned about 1,135 acres of land, he said adding a total of 3,500 acres would be acquired by March 2007 and work on the first phase of the plant would begin a month later. "There were some delays initially but we are going as per our original schedule. The first phase of 4 MT would be completed by December 2010, and the entire project by 2016," he said.Soung-Sik also set at rest speculation on the proposed captive port. After detailed studies, the state government has decided to recommend the necessary environmental and coastal regulatory approvals for the port to the centre, he said.The port was essential for the viability of the steel plant as the 12 MT project required logistics handling capacity of 25-30 million tonne, he said, strongly denying reports that it could have an adverse impact on the existing Paradip port.Posco would sign a separate MoU with the state government for the port, he said, but did not give any time-frame.