Essar Steel starts iron ore slurry pipeline

Essar Steel has commissioned the world's second longest iron ore slurry pipeline this week. The 267 km long pipeline connects the iron benficiation plant at Bailadilla, Chattisgarh to the pellet plant at Visakhapatnam and passes through the rugged terrains of Chattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The steel major will also commission an iron-ore benefication plant with an eight million tonne capacity. Both the projects entails an investment of Rs 1,100 crore.

"The two projects were executed in a record time of two years and their commissioning marks the completion of the total integration of Essar Steel's manufacturing facilities," said a company spokesperson.

Last year, in September, the company had commissioned the cold rolling complex at its steel plant at Hazira. The world's longest slurry pipeline, which is 396 km long, is located at the Germano Mines in Brazil.

The Bailadilla pipeline, built by Essar Steel, is designed to carry 8 million tonne of slurry per annum and is expected to reduce Essar Steel's transportation cost from Rs 550 per tonne to about Rs 80 per tonne.

The pipeline will help the company save at least Rs 200 crore every year, with its capacity set to increase to 4.6 million tonne per year from the present 3 million tonne.

"It is the most environment-friendly way of transporting iron ore fines. The pipeline eliminates logistic bottlenecks, ensuring real time inventory management," said the spokesperson.

The pipeline infrastructure includes two pumping stations and a valve choking station, apart from terminalling facilities at Visakhapatnam and Bailadilla.

The pumping operation from Bailadilla to Visakhapatnam is monitored and controlled by a computerised supervisory system. The slurry pumps were supplied by Geho, Netherlands and a consortium of JSC Stroytransgaz and Essar Constructions executed the project.

The benefication plant of 8 million tonne capacity is located at Kirandul, adjacent to the Kirandul mines of National Minerals Development Corporation.