Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) has drawn up plans for a critical $250-million (about Rs. 1,125 crore) railway linkage to connect its $2.1-billion El Mutun mining project to the Bolivian railway network and a proposed port.
The plans signal Jindal Steel's seriousness to develop the mines it acquired in 2007 but couldn't start production, due to delay in completing the agreement with the Bolivian government.
The Naveen Jindal-led company acquired 40-year rights to the El Mutun reserve and has started shipping iron ore from the mines and is now taking on the logistic challenges, group vice chairman Vikrant Gujral told ET. JSPL proposes to build a riverfront port to export iron ore out of landlocked Bolivia.
The port on a canal, 100 km southeast of the company's offices in Puerto Suarez, will carry iron ore onto Parana river system in nearby Brazil, and down the South American continent to Europe, Middle East and China. According to Gujral, the port is being planned to serve as an alternative to the congested Brazilian port of Corumba for Bolivia's grain and soya exports.
Last year's stalemate between Jindal Steel and the Bolivian government on transfer of land and a schedule to start work, has been resolved. Jindal Steel has the rights to develop half of the 40 billion tonnes deposit. The project, being developed in two phases, includes a 1.7 million tonnes steel plant, a 6 million tonnes direct reduced iron plant and a 10 million tonne pelllet plant.
Setting up infrastructure will further Jindal Steel's case when the other half of El Mutun's 40 billion tonnes reserve is put up for bidding, which Gujral said JSPL will be keen on acquiring. The ore's high phosphorous content, about three times more than the average, needs beneficiation and process trials have been successfully carried.
Next door Brazil, where miners particularly Vale, have large operations and have already served equipment and other needs. With the 2014 Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, Brazil will be a ready market for its long steel products, said Gujral. "Peru's economy is also doing well and most of our steel product range is being planned for South American markets," he added.
International businesses - the DRI steel in Oman, copper in Zambia, coal in Mozambique next door to the Riversdale project, limestone in Madagascar and diamonds from Congo - should contribute $750-800 million to total revenues this fiscal year.
No comments:
Post a Comment