JSW to source iron ore from Goa

Bengaluru : Faced with acute shortage of iron ore, JSW Steel Ltd (JSW) has approached six small mining companies in Goa to procure enough to feed its existing steel plant and the proposed pig iron project in the state. “Last week JSW approached us to source iron ore for its Karnataka plant. We will discuss the terms and conditions soon to commence supply," said Haresh Melwani, CEO, H L Nathurmal & Co, a Goa-based iron ore miner and exporter.

An email to JSW last week elicited no response. “As a company policy, we would not like to comment on such matters," said a company official. The company's plant at Vijaynagar (Bellary) in Karnataka currently produces 0.7 million tonnes (mt) of steel, which is set to expand to 10 Mt by the end of this month. The capacity would be further expanded to 12 mt. In the last quarter of the financial year 2010-11, the company had already started operation of its sinter plant — two blocks of the four blocks of coke oven, converter, caster and captive power plant (300 Mw) as part of 0.32 Mt expansion plan. For the existing capacity of 10 Mt, the company requires 20 mt of iron ore to operate to its full capacity. Of this, 25 per cent or 5 million tonnes is supplied through JSW’s captive mines in the state.