SAIL eyes iron ore licence in key state

August 14, 2009: Steel Authority of India Ltd, the country's biggest domestic steel maker, hopes to get iron ore mining licence in a key state that will help boost output, company officials said on Thursday.

The state-run company's plant in Bhilai in the central state of Chhattisgarh received this month the final clearance from the environment ministry to develop a mine in Rowghat, a senior company official said.

The SAIL spokesman confirmed the development. "This has paved the way for applying for a mining lease," the spokesman said. "Over the next four years, we will develop the mine."

The mine has estimated reserves of 511 million tons of iron ore and should help the Bhilai plant meet its target in the coming year, said the senior official, who could not be named because of company policy. The plant is raising its capacity to 7.5 million tons by 2010/11 from 5.3 million tons now.

SAIL produced a total of 13.4 million tons of crude steel in 2008/09, down from 14 million tons in the previous year. Chairman S K Roongta has said the company planned to expand capacity in the near future to feed expected rise in demand.

Source: The Economic Times