Essar Steel signs MOU with Harsco to become a Zero-Waste discharging company

5-July-2013

In its stride to become a ‘zero-waste’ discharging company Essar Steel, one of the leading steel makers among private sector steel making companies in India,  has signed an mou for 15 years worth ₹ 960 crore (about $ 160 million)  with Harsco India for recovering iron from slag generated in its furnaces.

"The Agreement is for a period of 15 years valued at $ 160 million over the duration of contract. As per agreement, Harsco will recover iron from slag which can then be reused in steel making," Essar Steel today said in a statement. Moreover, after the metal is recovered, the sized slag can be used as road fill, in road-laying, brick-making, cement mix in construction, among other usages.

Essar Steel generates around one million tonnes of slag annually, which it has been using for making various construction materials till now; but the decision to rope in Harsco India, a leading firm in slag processing and metal recovery, has been taken to eliminate wastage of iron content in the slag.

"This agreement is in line with the objective of Essar Steel to become a "zero-waste" steel making company. We remain committed to the cause of sustainable development," said Rajiv Bhatnagar, Director at the Hazira Facility of Essar Steel India.

Essar Steel with a capacity of 14 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) is a fully integrated company from mining to retail and has strong downstream capability with a global presence in several countries - India, Canada, USA and Indonesia.

On the hand Harsco, headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, is a diversified, worldwide company with more than 400 locations in 50 countries, are mainly serving to the industries fundamental to global economic progress and infrastructure development. 

 (Source: Business Line)  

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• JSPL to buy Liberian Wologisi Iron Ore Mine

JSPL to buy Liberian Wologisi Iron Ore Mine

3-July-2013

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) is in talks with Liberian government to acquire the West African country's largest iron ore mine Wologisi in which China has also shown interest. According to industry sources, the deal could be as big as $2 billion but it has not been finalised yet while a decision is expected by the end of September 2013, reported Bloomberg citing undisclosed sources.

According to the report, some lawmakers of Lofa County and a part of local media have also started raising voices against grant of the Wologisi mine to anyone, including JSPL, without ensuring jobs for Liberians as the country's unemployment rate is one of the highest in the world, sources said.

They further said that if the Wologisi iron ore mine deal goes through, JSPL may also go for setting up a 150 MW or 175 MW coal-based power plant in the West African country. The Wologisi mine is estimated to hold several billion tonnes of iron ore reserves, though they have not yet been certified. If the deal goes through, it would be the second acquisition for JSPL in Africa in last one year as it had acquired CIC Energy, which has thermal coal assets in Botswana, in September, 2012 and also JSPL (Jindal Steel and Power) will be the second Indian firm after Vedanta group's Sesa Goa to invest in Liberia.

Here it may be recalled that in March this year, JSPL abandoned its plans to acquire iron ore company Afferro Mining citing low grade magnetite deposits and high costs concerned with the beneficiation of the ore. Incidentally, JSPL wrote off more than $90m after shelving an iron ore project in Bolivia in 2012.

In fact, JSPL has been negotiating with many African countries for securing iron ore mines as part of its overseas expansion. In a recent interview JSPL's Managing Director and CEO Ravi Uppal told PTI "This year we have a capital expenditure target of Rs 12,000 crore for both steel and power together. Next year, it will be about Rs 11,000-12,000 crore, so it will be about Rs 24,000 crore investment in 2 years”. the company will be commissioning new steel mills in Odisha's Angul and in Oman and a new power plant of 2,400 MW capacity in Chhattisgarh's Tamnar. Together with completion of current phase of expansion, JSPL (Jindal Steel and Power) is also gearing up for doing preparatory work on its next phase of expansion, Uppal said, adding that his focus is on beginning phase-II of Angul steel plant and a 1,320 MW power plant in Jharkhand's Godda.

At present Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) is the largest coal-based producer of sponge iron in Asia and the second in the world. After the completion of current phase of expansion, this India based Steel and Power company will have steel production capacity 7.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from existing 3.5 MTPA, while its power generation capacity will increase to 5,000 MW from existing 2,500 MW.

 (Source: The Business Standard)

JSW Steel - Achievements and Developments

5-June-2013

JSW Steel wins prestigious Platts Global Metals Award

JSW Steel Ltd., the flagship company of $11 billion Indian conglomerate JSW Group, has won the prestigious "The Industry Leadership Award" at Platts Global Metals Awards, held recently in London.

Mr Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD, JSW Steel and Group CFO said, "It gives us immense pleasure to get the prestigious Platts Global Metals Award. The company remains committed to the pursuit of challenging targets, safety, environmental protection, transparency, openness and social responsibility in every aspect of business around the world."

The award is given in recognition of achievements mainly in the fields of steel, metals and mining. Platts has ranked the Industry Leadership Award category on five parameters - Financial Results, Innovation, Product Quality, Safety and Strategic Vision. Under Financial Results, it reviews Annual Report, Company Growth figures and projections, Credit rating, Capital assets whereas in Innovation, it checks technology, processes, cost effectiveness and sustainability. On Product Quality aspect, records of reliability based on low percentage of load rejections, consistency of product specifications and timely delivery are some of the parameters which are evaluated while on Strategic Vision, Platts evaluates vision of the company.

Merger of JSW Ispat with JSW Steel

Earlier with effect from 1st June, JSW Steel has completed the merger of JSW Ispat Steel with itself. With the merger JSW Steel has now become the second largest steel producer in India after Steel Authority of India (SAIL) with 14.3 million tones capacity.

JSW Steel has a wide range of products which include pellets, slabs, HR coils/sheets, HR plates, CR coils, galvanized coils/sheets, and colour coated coils/sheets. In fact JSW Steel is one of the principal manufacturers of cold rolled, galvanized, and colour coated steel in India.

Tangshan Iron Steel signs agreement with Siemens VAI Metals

The Tangshan Iron and Steel Company Ltd (also referred as “Tanggang”), the flagship company of China’s largest steelmaker, Hebei Iron and Steel (HBIS) Group, the second largest producer of steel in the world, signed an agreement with the Austria based Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Co, on 5^th March 2013, covering cooperation in technology and innovation.

The agreement calls for SiemensVAI Metals Technologies, a world leader in solutions, technology and services to the mining, iron and steel making sectors, to provide consulting services for Tangshan Iron and Steel to improve energy efficiency in its iron making. Siemens VAI is a part of the Industry Sector of global engineering major Siemens AG (Munich, Germany).

Yu Yong, Tangshan Iron and Steel's president, said that technology innovation and cooperation is inevitable for enterprises in iron and steel, especially in looking for new ways to deal with the intense competition these days. The cooperation here is expected to help Tangshan Iron and Steel develop internationally. It is Hebei’s first company to cooperate technologically with an advanced global enterprise.

Tanggang (Tangshan Iron and Steel Company Ltd) was established in 1943, the original place of the side-blown basic steel converter of China. Tanggang executed a “Three-Step” strategy of development to make a technical innovation on iron, steel and steel rolling, modified the old plants, combined the peripheral plants and quicken the strategy of development of Caofeidian in the “Ninth-Five years” and “Tenth-Five years”, becoming one of the Ten Million Tons Iron and Steel Group in 2005.

Tangshan Iron and Steel Company Ltd has an annual production capacity of around 15 million tons. The products cover four categories: plates, rods, lines and sections, with a total of more than 140 varieties and more than 400 kinds of specifications. The main products are hot-rolled sheet, cold rolled thin plate, galvanized sheet, color-coated sheet medium and thick plates, stainless steel plate, bar, wire rod, sections, all that have passed the EHS. In recent years Tangshan Iron and Steel has made environmental improvements in power consumption, water use and by-product recycling.

JSW Steel signs JV with Japanese Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc (MISI)

14-Oct-2011

JSW Steel on Wednesday (12^th Oct’11) has signed a joint venture agreement with Japanese Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc (MISI) to set up a steel processing centre at an investment of Rs 122-crore (approximately $ 24.5 million) in North India.

The equal join venture company--JSW MI Steel Service Centre--will set up a 1,80,000 tonnes per annum facility to process mainly flat steel products such as hot rolled, cold rolled steel and coated products to cater to the needs of automotive, white goods, construction and other value added segments.

JSW Steel, part of the $8 billion O P Jindal Group is India's third-largest steelmaker. JSW Steel is one of the largest steel producers in private sector in India so far the provision of capacity is concerned. The company has a wide range of products which include pellets, slabs, HR coils/sheets, HR plates, CR coils, galvanized coils/sheets, and colour coated coils/sheets. In fact, JSW Steel Limited has the largest galvanizing and colour coating production capacity in the country and is the largest exporter of galvanized products with presence in over 100 countries across five continents.

For JSW, this comes as yet another Japanese partnership. Last year, Japan’s second largest steel maker JFE announced that it would be buying around 14.99 per cent stake in JSW Steel for about $1.02 billion (Rs 4,800 crore) in what was pegged as one of the biggest foreign direct investment deals in metal and mining space till date.

Japan’s Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc has over 100 processing centres across the world and specializes in value-added steel.

Indian Steel Industry: An account of Public and Private Sector Steel Plants in India

19-Dec-2010
Indian Steel Industry

Steel is the backbone and crucial to the growth of modern economy. A country’s index of socio-economic development can be judged from the production and its per capita consumption of steel. That is why iron and steel industry is called a ‘Key Industry’. India is, most probably, the only country in the world bestowed with the two most important ingredients for making and selling steel – Raw Material (Iron ore) and Customers (Population) – and both of them in plenty. So, these days everyone is looking at India as the world’s next steel hub, be it the mighty foreign steel makers, India’s major ones or, the world’s renowned steel researchers and market watchers. It’s a unanimous voice that India is the country where one can make steel, of course, at a very competitive cost and sell it too and so, ‘additional-capacity-for-steel’ is the buzz word, be it the first generation producers or, the existing ones.

The Indian Steel Industry did remarkably well as compared to the rest of the world (with exception of China) during the recent difficult phase of the world economy. Even while the global production dipped by over 8% in 2009, the Indian Steel Industry registered a decent growth. In fact, Indian Steel Industry was the third fastest growing steel industry in the world next only to China. The demand for Indian steel was growing at 8-9% as against a global average of 5-6%. According to the Short Range Outlook of World Steel Association (WSA), India’s steel demand maintained stable growth during the recent crisis and is expected to grow by 13.9% and 13.7% in the years 2010 and 2011 respectively after a growth of 7.7% in 2009. During 2009-10 the steel production in India was 64.88 million tones, registering a growth of almost 11% from the previous year. New technologies like COREX and new sectors like colour coated steel, galvanizing steel have been introduced successfully.

According to Honorable Union Steel Minister of India, Shri Virbhadra Singh speaking at a National Media Conference held recently in India, the steel industry’s contribution to the country’s GDP is nearly 2% providing employment over 500000 (Five lakh) people. Currently, India is the world’s largest producer of sponge iron and third largest producer of crude steel after China and US. With a targeted production capacity of 124 million tones, then country is expected to become the second largest by 2015. With per capita steel consumption in India, at around only 45 kg, still being much lower than global averages, the opportunities for growth are immense. India’s steel use will reach 71.6 MT in 2011 according to the Short Range Outlook of World Steel Association.  

The structure of the Indian Steel Industry can be divided into the following sectors:

Primary Producers The integrated steel plants (ISPs) who convert iron ore into steel through Coke oven-BF-BOF route e.g. SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd), RINL’s (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam’s) Vizag Steel Plant, all Public Sector units and Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), which have among them nine operational units.

Secondary Producers The mini steel plants (MSPs), which make steel by melting, scrap iron or a mixture thereof in an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) or an Induction Furnace (IF). At present there are about 190 Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) and 970 Induction Furnace (IF) in this sector in India. 

Small Producers These include small scale stand alone processors making pig iron and sponge iron, hot and cold rolling units, re-roller units, galvanizing and tin plating units.

After the liberalization of the Indian steel sector in 1992, steel plants came up in a big way in the private sector. In the Private Sector, the private companies can be termed as corporations, sole proprietorships, business trusts while depending on their organizational know-how. In the Public Sector, the Public Companies are termed as corporations owned by the government while the ownership of possessions and concern is communal by the people. The importance regarding a public company is called its marketplace capitalization and the rising of funds is done throughout the retailing of its securities. Some examples of Public Sector steel plants are Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), National Mineral Development Corporation Limited (NMDC), Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) and Bharat Refractories Limited (BRL), etc. while important steel plants in Private sector in India are such as Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) or Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Bhushan Power and Steel Limited, Essar Steel, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), etc. 

According to the figures of JPC (Joint Plant Committee) report, the share of the private sector producers in India’s total gross production of carbon finished steel in 2001-02 was 67.5% which touched a level of 79% in 2009-10.  

Year	Production (in million tones per annum)
1950 – 51 1960 – 61 1970 – 71 1980 – 81 1990 – 91 1997 – 98 2004 – 05 2009 – 10	1.04 2.39 4.64 6.82 13.53 23.40 32.60 64.88

Public Sector Steel Plants

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is the largest producer of iron and steel in India. With its commercial office in New Delhi SAIL produces iron and steel at five integrated steel plants:

1. Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) at Bhilai, Chhattisgarh

2. Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) at Durgapur, West Bengal

3. Rourkela Steel Plant at Rourkela, Orissa

4. IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) at Burnpur, West Bengal                          

5. Bokaro Steel plant (BSL) at Bokaro, Jharkhand.

Besides, SAIL has four special steel, alloy-steel plants:

1. Alloy Steels Plant (ASP) at Durgapur, West Bengal

2. Salem Steel Plant (SSP) at Salem, Tamil Nadu

3. Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISL) at Bhadravati, Karnataka    

4. Maharashtra Elektrosmelt Limited, Chandrapur  

Rourkela Steel Plant

The plants at Chandrapur and Bhadravati are subsidiaries of SAIL. These plants are located mainly in the eastern and central regions of India and situated close to domestic sources of raw materials, including the company’s iron ore, lime stone and dolomite mines. SAIL has distribution network across the country with 65 warehouses and network of dealers in all the districts of India. The IISCO-Ujjain Pipe and Foundry Company Limited, a subsidiary of IISCO, manufactures cast iron spun pipes at its  works at Ujjain. Besides, Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) has seven central units –

=> Research and Development Center for Iron and Steel (RDCIS), Center for Engineering and Technology (CET), Management Training Institute, all located at Ranchi (Jharkhand)

=> Central Coal Supply Organization located at Dhanbad (Jharkhand)

=> Raw Materials Division, Growth Division, and Environment Management Division, all located at Kolkata (West Bengal)

The promotion of products of SAIL plants is done by the Central Marketing Organization, Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta). Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) is in the process of modernizing and expanding its production units, raw material resources and other facilities to maintain its dominant status in the Indian Steel Industry. The company plans to increase its capacity and production by 70% by 2010-11 by spending 530 billion INR. Some other key objectives of SAIL’s expansion plan include –

=> 100 per cent production of steel through BOF (Basic Oxygen Furnace) route.

=> 100 per cent processing of steel through continuous casting method.

=> Adherence to energy saving schemes, environment norms etc.

=> Post-expansion production target of Hot Metal, Crude Steel, Saleable Steel 26.2, 24.6 and 23.1 million tones per annum respectively.

Bhilai Steel Plant

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) having its registered office as well as one integrated steel plant (VSP) at Vishakhapatnam. VSP is India’s primary shore-based public sector incorporated steel plant.

National Mineral Development Corporation Limited (NMDC) has its head office at Hyderabad. NMDC’s business is to increase mineral resources, with coal, oil, natural gas and atomic minerals. At present its actions are concerned on drawing out of iron ores and diamonds. National Mineral Development Corporation Limited (NMDC) operates computerized iron ore mines in India at Bailadila and Donimalai and diamond mines at Panna. Jammu and Kashmir Mineral Development Corporation Limited (J&KMDC) is a subsidiary company of NMDC, included for increase of various minerals in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants Limited (MECON) situated in the heart of Ranchi city provides all type of Consultancy and Engineering Services including design, lay-out, type of refractory lining etc. to  both ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical units. 

National Mineral Development Corporation Limited 

(NMDC) Plant

Kudermukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) with its head office situated at Bangalore is the country’s 100% export oriented unit. It exports iron ore concentrate and pellets, both Blast Furnace and DR Grade, to many countries such as Japan, China, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey, Australia, and Taiwan etc.

Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) has its commercial office in Kolkata. It is engaged in introducing carbon steel melting scrap for Mini Steel Plants (MSPs) in the country. The company also undertakes the removal of ferrous and miscellaneous scrap arising from integrated steel plants under SAIL and RINL and disposal of scrap, surplus stores etc. from other public units and governments. Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited (FSNL) is a supplementary of MSTC (Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited) and undertakes the revival and dispensation of scrap from slag disposals of various steel plants.

Manganese Ore (India) Limited (MOIL) with its center of operations at Nagpur is the producer of Manganese ore in India. MOIL produces and sells all grades of manganese ore including high grade manganese ore required for the production of Ferro-Manganese, Blast Furnace grade ore required for the production of Hot Metal and Dioxide ore required for the production of dry battery cells.

Sponge Iron India Limited (SIIL) headquartered at Hyderabad was established as a display of Sponge Iron Plant to set up the techno-fiscal viability of producing sponge iron from lump iron ore and 100% non-coking coal. The plant is intended both for production of sponge iron and for Research and Development work.  

Sector/Plant wise Production of Crude Steel in India  during 2009-10 and 2008-09 (‘000 tones)
Producers	Production during		Variance (%)
	2009-10 (Provisional)	2008-09
Main Producers
Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Bhilai Steel Plant Durgapur Steel Plant Rourkela Steel Plant Bokaro Steel Plant Indian I&E Steel Plant Alloy Steel Plant Salem Steel Plant VISL	5108 1966 2128 3599 400 205 0 103	5183 1886 2083 3577 417 168 0 95	– 1.4 4.2 2.2 0.6 – 4.1 22.0 - 8.4
Total SAIL Plants	13509	13409	0.7
RINL (VSP)	3205	2963	8.2
Tata Steel	6563	5646	16.2
Total Main Producers	23277	22108	5.7
Major Secondary Producers
JSWL	5257	3218	63.4
ISPAT Industries	2689	2201	22.2
Essar Steel	3474	3342	3.9
JSPL	1961	1457	34.6
Total Major Secondary Producers	13381	10218	31.0
Other Producers	28217	26201	7.7
Grand Total Production	64875	58437	11.0

         Source: JPC (Joint Plant Committee) report

Private Sector Steel Plants

Tata Steel or Tata Iron & Steel Company (TISCO) located at Jamshedpur is the oldest integrated steel plants in India having started its production in February 1912. 

It is the flagship company of Tata Sons one of the best-known symbols of India’s industrial development. Tata Steel is exporter of lofty quality and worth added steel products. Tata Steel’s products comprise of HR coils, tubes, rods, bars, structural, strips, sheets and bearings. Tata Steel (TISCO) is incorporated with actions ranging from mining of raw materials to finished steel products. Following its new acquisitions, Tata Steel is now a multinational one having operations in many countries. Its Jamshedpur plant contains the DCS supplied by Honeywell while having its registered office in Mumbai, the so-called business capital of India. Tata Steel launched the world’s first branded C.R product in the name of “Tata Steelum”. Tata Steel’s world-class Cold Rolling Mill Complex at Jamshedpur has given a new dimension in the production of Cold-Rolled steel to India.

JSW Steel is one of the largest incorporated private steel producers in India so far the provision of capacity is concerned. JSW Steel has a wide range of products which include pellets, slabs, HR coils/sheets, HR plates, CR coils, galvanized coils/sheets, and colour coated coils/sheets. In fact JSW Steel is one of the principal manufacturers of cold rolled, galvanized, and colour coated steel with its developed service facilities at Vasind and Tarapur near Mumbai in Maharashtra. The company is working hard to achieve the target capacity of manufacturing around 32 million tones of steel per annum. 

Jindal South West Steel Limited formerly known as Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Plant (JVSL) had opted for the COREX – BOF route for producing HR Coils. The COREX process of VAI, Austria (now Siemens VAI) has low emission levels and helps in the generation of medium calorific value export gas offering a clean source of power. The plant is situated at Torangallu in Karnataka had an initial capacity of 1.6 million tones per year (MTPA), which has been expanded to 6.6 MTPA.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) is the largest coal-based producer of sponge iron in 

Asia and the second in the world. JSPL’s plant situated at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh was the first producer of longest finished rails in the world. It is also producing hot-rolled parallel flange beams and columns as well as Larsen U-type piles for the first time in India.

Essar Steel Limited is another India - based leading steel producer in private sector in India as well as in some other countries. Essar Steel is fully integrated from mining to retail and has strong downstream capability with a global retail capacity in excess of 3 million tones per annum (MTPA). Essar Steel has in its basket many customized products catering to a variety of product segments. It is also India’s largest exporter of flat products to the US and European markets, and to those of South East Asia and the Middle East countries. Hazira Steel Complex near Surat (Gujarat) and Vishakhapatnam Pellet Complex are some manufacturing units of Essar Steel in India. It is the largest steel producer in western India with a capacity of 10 MTPA at Hazira Steel Complex having a complete infrastructure setup including a captive port, lime plant and oxygen plant. The Vishakhapatnam Pellet Complex has a capacity of 8 MTPA while Essar Steel possesses an 8 MTPA beneficiation plant at Bailadila and the world’s largest capacity Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) plant with MIDREX technology at Hazira (later integrated it with DC–EAF and hot strip rolling mill with a capacity of around 5 MTPA). Essar Steel has recently acquired all the assets of Shree Precoated Steel Limited (SPSL) of Pune in India. The capacity of Shree Precoated Steel Limited (SPSL) Colour Coated Line is 400000 TPA (ton per year), of Cold Rolling Mill is 600000 TPA of Galvanizing Mill is 500000 TPA, and of Pickling Line 650000 TPA. With aggressive expansion plans in India, as well as Asia and the US, Essar Steel has a target to achieve a capacity of 14 MTPA by 2011-12. 
[Essar Steel starts second Conarc Furnace].                              

Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd. having head office in New Delhi is a manufacturer of flat, round and long products as well as value added products having a whole steel value chain ranging from coal mining, billets, HR coils, pig iron, CR coils, GP/GC, precision tubes, black pipe/GI pipe, cable tapes, tor steel, wire rod and special alloy steel.

Bhushan Steel and Strips Ltd. has a state-of-the-art 6-Hi Universal Crown Mill supplied by Hitachi of Japan and the process know-how is also from Sumitimo of Japan with auto shape control. Bhushan Steel and Strips Ltd. is producing CR coils up to 1600 mm width at its Shahibabad plant is one of the leading suppliers of Cold-Rolled products to India’s automotive industry.

Ispat Industries Limited has installed the world’s first MEGAMOND Midrex unit and later integrated it with a unique technology of utilizing DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) and BF (Blast Furnace) hot metal as metallic charge in its Twin-shell CONARC EAF (Electric Arc Furnace) followed by thin slab casting and strip rolling with SMS Demag (now SMS Siemag) technology of Germany. Ispat’s plant at Dolvi near Mumbai had an initial capacity of 1.2 MTPA which has been expanded to 3.6 MTPA. Ispat was the first Indian steel producer with thin slab casting facilities and was the country’s first producer of colour coated sheets.