New Delhi: Integrated steel player Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) on Thursday said it has bagged Kasia iron ore block in Odisha.
The mine with 278 million tonne (MT) reserves is strategically located about 17 kilometers from company’s pellet plant in Barbil in the state, JSPL said in a statement.
At present, the Kasia mine has an environmental clearance (EC) for mining 7.5 MT mineral per annum, the company informed.
“JSPL has received official communication from Odisha Government for the grant of mining lease of the Kasia Iron and dolomite mine. JSPL has been declared as the preferred bidder for the mine at a premium of 118.10 per cent,” it said.
Sharing details with respect to the mine, JSPL said it has large resource of 278 MT of iron ore of an average Fe (iron) grade of approximately 62.5 per cent. The mine also has “favourable lumps to the fine ratio of 20:80”.
The e-auction for Kasia iron and dolomite mineral block, which was earlier owned and operated by Essel Mining and Industries, was held on September 18, 2021.
This large and high-quality captive iron ore mine provides significant raw material security to JSPL.
JSPL Managing Director VR Sharma said, “The company has a current crude steel capacity of around 9 MTPA and plans to expand the capacity to 16 MTPA by FY25. Access to this large captive iron ore source, therefore, provides a massive strategic advantage to the company.”
The company already has plans to use a slurry pipeline from the Barbil region to Angul which will further reduce the logistics cost, he said.
Part of the O P Jindal Group, JSPL is has a significant presence in the steel, power and mining sectors with investments worth Rs 90,000 crore across the globe.