SAIL not to share Chiria mines

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) today ruled out the possibility of sharing Chiria mines with any other player.

The statement assumes significance since Mittal Steel has ruled out the possibility of setting up a plant in Jharkhand without Chiria.

S K Roongta, chairman said at the sidelines of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) Metals 2006 that the PSU was working on an amicable settlement on Chiria, but would not share its resources.

As part of the settlement, SAIL was willing to set up greenfield capacities in Jharkhand.

On what would be the capacity of the greenfield plant, Roongta said it would be in tandem with the aspirations of the Jharkhand government. Over and above the greenfield facility, SAIL was also expanding the Bokaro steel plant.

Chiria was originally leased out to IISCO, but post-merger with SAIL, it is under SAIL. The steel major has also lined up an investment of Rs 1,800 crore for Chiria.

The environment impact study has been completed and the detailed project report was being worked upon.

S Satapathy, Jharkhand mines secretary said, Mittal Steel had been offered an alternative, Ankura mines, but the company was yet to respond.

Sanak Mishra, chief executive officer (CEO) Mittal Steel India was not available for comment.

Ankura has reserves of around 500 million tonne. However, it was only partially explored by MECL.

Mittal's 12 million tonne plant required 600 million tonne of iron ore over a 30-year period.

The project is proposed to be set up in two phases at an investment of Rs 40,000 crore.

Mittal Steel was eyeing the two Chiria leases which were under litigation in the Jharkhand High Court, as they had been cancelled by the state government.

The leases were much coveted since Chiria happens to be Asia's largest iron ore belt with reserves in excess of two billion tonne.