The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) are scouting for a third equity partner for the joint venture project to lay a slurry pipeline from the mining site at Bailadilla in Chhattisgarh to meet the raw material requirement of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
The 336-km pipeline will ensure uninterrupted supply of fines in slurry form. It will be pumped out from the Bailadilla mines of the NMDC, with which RINL has a long-term agreement to source 12.12 million tonnes of iron ore to produce 7.3 million tonnes of steel by 2016-17. The joint venture will further improve synergy between RINL and NMDC. Essar Steel is the first to lay a pipeline from Chhattisgarh to its pellet plant here.
The RINL-NMDC project is estimated to cost around Rs.5,000 crore. It envisages establishing a pellet plant near the VSP. Sponge iron will be made with pellets — an important raw material for steelmaking. The pipeline will be mostly underground, abutting the National Highway 43, traversing through Odisha and avoiding the forest areas.
The project will involve an estimated investment of Rs.5,000 crore to Rs.5,500 crore.
