Steel Authority of India (SAIL) proposes to invest 8,000 crore INR in Eastern Freight Corridor project of the Indian Railways

12-Dec-2010

Steel Authority of India (SAIL)  

A major development in the history of the Indian Railways, the world’s biggest Railway network, happened when the steel major and the biggest Public Sector company of India SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd) lend helping hand to the former with its proposal to invest as much as 8,000 crore INR in the 500 km Sonnagar-Dankuni section of the eastern dedicated freight corridor project of the Indian Railways. Confirming the receipt of representation by SAIL, a senior railway ministry official said a committee would look into the modalities of the SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd) funding for the project. Earlier, in a letter to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee SAIL has proposed that it can bring this investment for the Sonnagar-Dankuni stretch on the eastern arm. Initial estimates of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) indicate around 8500 crore INR would be required for completing this segment. The Minister told reporters, “I see this as a major development as it can take care of a major part of the finances required for the Sonnagar-Dankuni stretch.”

The eastern dedicated freight corridor is a 1,839km stretch between Ludhiana in Punjab and Dankuni in West Bengal. For the 1,131 km stretch between Ludhiana and Khurja, the railway ministry is in advanced stage of negotiations with the World Bank. The total investment in the corridor will be to the tune of 23,000 crore INR. The project is targeted for completion in 2016-17. A major portion of this stretch is being funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency as the Indian Railways had already signed a loan agreement for 17,700 crore INR with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Kobe Steel of Japan and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) sign MOU for Comprehensive Strategic Collaboration

5-Dec-2010
Japan’s biggest steel producer Kobe Steel and Indian public sector company, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for comprehensive strategic collaboration covering technologies, projects and other areas. The MOU was signed by Mr. Hiroshi Sato of Kobe Steel and Mr. C. S. Verma of SAIL in the presence of Mr. P. K. Misra, Secretary (Steel) Government of India, and senior officials from Kobe Steel and SAIL on November 30, 2010 in Tokyo.

With India's steel industry and steel-related business showing remarkable growth and promising development for the future, Kobe Steel and SAIL intend to build a relationship of mutual benefit under the MOU. Both companies plan to form teams that will carry out collaborative work to lead to actual projects.

Kobe Steel and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) have already begun a feasibility study for a joint venture that utilizes Kobe Steel's ITmk3^® iron-making process. With reference to finished products, specific projects / studies will be undertaken to explore the possibility of producing high value products, such as

(1) Products for automobile,

(2) Products for nuclear power plants and conventional power plants such as forged material and tubing material,

(3) Special alloy steel and bars, and

(4) Stainless steel tube and/or any other product mutually agreed to between Kobe Steel and SAIL.

If Kobe Steel and / or SAIL have contractual agreements with other companies, the items covered under such agreements would not be considered in the MOU. It has been learnt that the companies are already working together to set up a 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant at SAIL’s Durgapur Alloy Steel unit using Kobe’s patented ITmk3 technology and are currently doing a feasibility study to freeze the finer details of setting up the plant. Under the ITmk3 technology, unlike traditional steel manufacturing process which uses iron ore lumps, SAIL will be using iron ore fines. This process is less pollutant and uses a raw material which is otherwise wasted at the mouth of the iron ore mines. In fact, SAIL also has a JV with South Korea’s steel giant POSCO for a similar technology called ‘Finex’.

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is currently India’s biggest public sector steel company with an annualized capacity of 14 mtpa. The company has earmarked an investment of 600 billion INR for expansion and modernization of its plants and up its capacity to 23 mtpa by 2012. Kobe Steel, Japan has world-class technologies for producing high value-added steel products, but also raw material processing and iron unit production including pellets, direct reduced iron and the ITmk3^® iron making process.

Source - http://www.kobelco.com/

Siemens VAI Metals Technologies to Modernize Qatar Steel's Plant at Mesaieed

27-Nov-2010

Qatar Steel Company

Austria based Siemens VAI Metals Technologies, a world leader in solutions, technology and services to the mining, iron and steel making sectors, has received an order in the double-digit million-euro range to modernize the Qatar Steel company’s steelworks in Masaieed, Qatar. Siemens VAI Metals Technologies and Siemens W.L.L Qatar are implementing the project jointly. Siemens VAI is a part of the Industry Sector of global engineering major Siemens AG (Munich, Germany). Qatar Steel Company was formed in 1974 as the first integrated steel plant in the Arabian Gulf. Commercial production commenced in 1978 with the company becoming wholly owned by Industries Qatar in 2003. Today, Qatar Steel is widely recognized as a foremost leader in the steel industry, extending its pioneering commitment from an expansive mill site located in the heart of the progressive Mesaieed Industrial City - 45 kilometers south of the nation’s capital, Doha. The Company also operates a UAE based subsidiary - Qatar Steel Company FZE. Qatar Steel plant facilities have come to include a Midrex process based DRI/HBI Combo Mega Module, Electric Arc Furnaces with a Ladle Refining Furnace, a Continuous Casting plant and Rolling Mills with the latest automated features. Other auxiliaries include well-equipped Jetty facilities, a Main Power Substation, Quality Control Center, Maintenance Shops and facilities for sea/fresh water, compressed air, natural gas and a Clinic.

The purpose of the project is to increase billet output capacity by up to 30%, simultaneously reducing specific consumption values and waste gas emissions. The modernized plant is scheduled get into operation by the middle of 2012. 

Siemens will be supplying a 95 MT electric arc furnace (EAF), a 95 MT ladle furnace, a 5-strand continuous billet casting plant and the associated ancillary equipment for the Qatar Steel works at Mesaieed Industrial City, which is located at about 50 km away from Doha, the capital of Qatar. A new dedusting plant is also being installed in the works, which is expected to considerably reduce the emissions from steel production. The scope of supply is rounded off by a system for charging the electric arc furnace with DRI and an alloying facility. Siemens Qatar will look after all the local services.      

Anshan Iron and Steel (Ansteel) makes deal with US Steel Development Company (SDCO)

11-Nov-2010
China’s Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel) Mississippi based Steel Development Company have signed a JV operating agreement on 15th Sept’10 along with partners from the United States, Italy, Japan, Germany and Canada. According to it Ansteel and its JV partners plan to build a technologically advanced and environmental friendly steel mill in US that will produce reinforcing bar and other products. Under the JV operation agreement signed, Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel) will take 14% stake in the venture based at Amory in Mississippi. Ansteel will also become a member of Steel Development’s Board of Directors and will supply certain components of Steel Development’s technology and equipment package.

Steel Development (SDCO) is a US-based steel company led by Mr. John Correnti as Chairman and CEO and a highly experienced management team that has been involved with building and operating many of the most successful and profitable steel mills around the world during the last 25 years. This deal is considered as an important step in Ansteel's goal of maintaining its position among the world leaders in iron and steel production technology and environmental protection. US lawmakers had attempted to block the deal marking China's first investment in America's steel production industry. 52 US congressmen wrote a letter to US Treasury Secretary Mr. Timothy Geithner in August requesting Washington investigate the deal claiming the proposed JV would threaten American jobs and national security. It may be recalled that Sino US relations have been strained this year over a range of economic and trade issues, including the value of the Chinese currency and Google's spat with Beijing over censorship. But as told by Mr. John Correnti that the deal has got support from the US government and the joint venture will increase job opportunities and local tax revenue. The project would create 1,000 construction jobs and employ 150 workers when production started.

A consortium of technology providers, including Danieli, Tenova Core, Ansteel and Marubeni Corporation, is providing the technology for the Amory mill. Quad Engineering Inc. is the lead engineer for the Amory mill. The technology has been designed to maximize production yields, reduce the operating costs and energy needs while allowing for continuous 24 hours operation in a day. For this the Amory mill is considered to be one of the world leaders in terms of Bar Production Technology.

(Further according a latest report from Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation it has shipped first batch of 5,060 tons of Australian Standard 65 KG heavy rails with specified length of 25 meters to Australia and is due to ship the second batch of 4,940 tons in late November. This is Angang Group's first multitudinous export of heavy rails to developed country).

(Source: STI)      

POSCO enters into a Joint Venture with Indonesia’s Krakatau Steel

13-Oct-2010
Korean steel producer Pohan Steel and Iron Corporation (Posco) signed a joint venture agreement in August this year to build and operate a $6 billion steel plant in Cilegon, Banten, with Indonesia’s largest steel maker PT Krakatau Steel. PT Krakatau Steel is a state-owned steel producer having 60% market share of steel plate market. The new integrated mill with an annual capacity potential of 6 million tons will be constructed in two phases, with the first phase of 3 million tons expected to start in the second half of 2010 and target to run with full capacity by 2014.  

As per the agreement, POSCO will have an initial share of 70% in the new company while Krakatau Steel has the option of increasing its stake up to 45% in the second phase of expansion. Presently Pohan Steel and Iron Corporation (POSCO) is the world’s third largest steelmaker and supply mainly to the shipbuilding and construction industries. The company has been growing internationally in many countries - Australia (70% share in Sutton Forest coal mine and 24.5% in API Iron Ore mine), China (contract with Jilin Province and manufacturing of processing centers), India (Orissa project and joint venture with SAIL), Brazil (20% stake in Brazilian steelworks project together with Tongue Steel Mill and Vale S.A) and Indonesia (Krakatau steel project).  

After US$ 6 billion investment commitments from South Korean steel maker POSCO in August, Indonesia now expects more investments to follow from large companies of that country. Interestingly, South Korea is the sixth biggest foreign country investing in Indonesia.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) resumes implementation of EI Mutun Steel and Iron Ore Mining Project in Bolivia

12-Sept-2010

In 2007 JSPL got the approval for iron ore mining rights of El Mutun mines, one of the world’s single biggest iron-ore deposits with reserves of more than 40 billion tone. The 40 year contract that gave the right to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) to mine about half of the reserves of iron ore also included setting up of an integrated 1.7 MTPA steel plant, a 6 MTPA sponge iron and 10 MTPA iron ore pellet plant in Bolivia.

Since then much water has flown under the bridge. In May 2010, Bolivia said that the multi-billion dollar project it signed with Jindal Steel to develop an iron ore mine has not been rescinded, but the steel company would have to pay a penalty for not fulfilling the terms of agreement etc. etc. Ultimately on 21st August 2010, JSPL said in a statement in BSE that it has resumed developing the El Mutun Steel & Iron Ore mine in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz area, after Bolivia sanctioned additional land for the project. The Bolivia Government had already sanctioned about 3000 acres of land for the project in addition to the previous 1000 acres, and Jindal Steel needed another bout 1000 acres to install a power generating unit. According to the contract, Jindal Steel is to invest $ 2.1 billion over 8-years period in this project named Jindal Steel, Bolivia, a subsidiary of JSPL (Jindal Steel and Power Limited).

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) today is one of India’s major steel producers with a significant presence in sectors like Mining, Power Generation and Infrastructure. With an annual turnover of over US $2.3 billion, JSPL is a part of the over US $ 15 billion diversified O. P. Jindal Group. In the recent past, JSPL has expanded its steel, power and mining businesses to various parts of the world particularly in Asia, Africa and South America.   

For further information please visit www.jindalsteelpower.com/