 "NMDC to soon finalise land in West Singhbhum for Jharkhand plant")
NMDC signed an MoU in June with the Jharkhand government for setting up an Integrated Steel Plant, through the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) route.
"We are zeroing in on the area for the required 3,000 acres of land for the proposed plant. We have seen the options in mineral-rich West Singhbhum and may take a final decision soon," Chief Secretary, Jharkhand Rajiv Gauba told PTI.
On requirement of an assured reserve of 200 million tonne of iron ore for the proposed plant, Gauba said the issues are being looked into.
NMDC CMD Narendra Kothari said the company hopes to get the land soon. "We expect the land requirement of around 3,000 acres would be fulfilled soon."
He said talks were on with the Jharkhand government.
Last month, Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had intimated Jharkhand Chief Minister Rabhubar Das that the steel plant will require 3,000 acres of land and an assured reserve of 200 MT of iron ore, preferably on allotment basis.
Das had reaffirmed his commitment to help set up the steel plant, so that the state's mineral wealth leads to employment generation within the state itself.
On the company's Nagarnar project in Chhattisgarh, the NMDC Chief said its will be completed by December 2016 and hot metal production will start after a month or two of the installation. It is building a 3 MTPA steel plant at Nagarnar.
Kothari said NMDC is committed to taking its capacity to 100 million tonnes by 2025.
Last month, Steel Minister Tomar has asked NMDC to enhance its output.
On company's 9,000 crore slurry pipeline project from its Bailadila mines to Vizag, Kothari has said it will be completed by 2018.
The slurry pipeline will be used to transport iron ore fines from NMDC's Bailadila mine in Chhattisgarh to Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, where RINL has its steel-making facility.
The company plans to build first phase of 100 km pipeline connecting Bailadila to Jagdalpur by by 2018.
NMDC is building the slurry pipeline for transporting pellets from Bailadila to Vizag via Jagdalpur with provision of partial offtake at Nagarnar.
Iron ore offtake in the current fiscal is expected at 38 million tonnes, Kothari said.
The iron ore production of the company during 2014-15 has touched a record at 30.44 MT as against 30.02 MT in 2013-14.
NMDC has planned a capex of Rs 3,500 crore for 2015-16 fiscal and expects iron ore prices to firm up.