Steel trading major Stemcor group will complete its Rs 450 crore iron ore beneficiation and slurry transportation project in north Orissa within next two years, said N D Rao, joint managing director of Brahmani River Pellets Ltd (BRPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based company.
“We have got in-principle approval from the government to build 3 million tonne ore beneficiation plant at Koira and to build 30 Km long pipeline to carry the slurry from Koira to Barbil. We have now applied for forest and environment clearances and hope to complete the project in next two years,” said Rao on the sidelines of 'UK and Odisha: In Partnership' seminar here. Unlike the existing pelletisation unit at Kalinganagr in Jajpur, the new project of Stemcor will be a separate entity as it is being jointly promoted by Stemcor and its subsidiary Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation. The BRPL will be buying the slurry from this new entity for its Kalinganagar pellet plant, informed Rao.
Currently operation at the BRPL is stopped because of non-completion of pipeline from Barbil to Kalinganagar. After the remaining portion of Barbil-Kalinganagar pipeline project is completed by March 2012, the Rs 1,500 crore plant would be producing 4 million tonne pellet a year, he said.
Pellets are formed out of low grade iron ore fines to be used in blast furnaces directly. BRPL has the advantage to sell its product to the steel companies based at Kalinganagar industrial complex.
The steel trading company, which also provides financial assistance to mine owners in the state to buy mineral raising equipments, gets about 2.5 million tonne iron ore a year from Mesco Steel owned mine, where it has 10 per cent stake.