Raw material for SAIL plants
BACKGROUNDER
Each of the Steel Plants of the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) is conveniently linked with a source of iron ore nearby. The Rajhara-Dalli group of mines in Chattisgarh service Bhilai, Kiriburu-Meghahatuburu iron ore mines in Jharkhand primarily take care of Bokaro's needs, Durgapur is fed mainly from Bolani in Orissa, while mines in Barsua and Kalta, also in Orissa, meet Rourkela's requirement. Two other iron ore mines at Gua and Chiria in Jharkhand are with IISCO, a subsidiary of SAIL, while one at Kemmangudi in Karnataka is tied to one of SAIL's special steel plants, VISP.
Most of these mines became operational in the late 1950s and sixties, at the time of the commissioning of the steel plants. The mines at Dalli and Meghahatuburu were developed later. The oldest is at Chiria, which was commissioned in 1907. These 10 mines, with a combined capability of producing more than 24 million tonnes (MT) of iron ore per annum, are presently meeting nearly 100 per cent of the iron ore requirement of all the steel plants under SAIL.
In the area of limestone and dolomite, other raw materials needed for steel making, however, SAIL outsources a part of its requirement. This is because the limestone mines under its fold-at Kuteshwar and Satna in madhya Pradesh, Purnapani in Orissa, Bhawnathpur in Jharkhand, Nandini in Chhattisgarh and Bhadigund in Karnataka-have a combined annual production capacity of only 6.5 MT, half the total requirement of limestone of the SAIL plants. Similarly, the company's dolomite quarries at Hirri (Chhattisgarh) and Tulsidamar (Jharkhand) can meet only about 35 per cent of the plants' requirement.
It is only in coal that SAIL faces a disadvantage. Three coal mines--at chansalla and Jitpur in Jharkhand and Ramnagore in West Bengal--do exist on the company's mining map, but they actually belong to IISCO. Besides, their output is not enough to meet even IISCO's needs. So the entire coking coal requirement of the SAIL plants-in the range of 12 to 13 MT-is met from external sources, both indigenous and foreign. This considerably dilutes the cost advantage provided to SAIL by its captive ore mines.
(Release ID :788)