The country’s fastest growing steel plant, JSW Steel Ltd, located in Ballari, which crossed the production of 10 mega tonnes of steel production annually at a single location, is still waiting to get its own mines as it has to depend on exported ore.
P Rajashekhar, president operation said, “The JSW Steel Vidyanagar was commissioned in 1997 as a hot strip mill. In the MoU it signed with the state government, it was mentioned that the plant will be given its own mine. However, till date the plant is operating on exported ore.”
Officials working at the JSW plant said that it is regarded as the world’s Corex showpiece; it was the first greenfield project in India and among the first in the world to have successfully used this technology to produce “green steel”. It houses India’s largest blast furnace and the widest hot strip mill.
Rajashekhar said, “Keeping in mind the motif of Make in India, JSW Steel Plant is among one of the pioneers, who believe in this idea propagated by the Prime Minister and is devoted to the cause, but the production of steel could be much cheaper if we get to have our own mines, as the cost of buying ore is high.” The plant is also recognised for its zero-effluent discharge status — it reuses more than 95 per cent of process waste and low carbon footprint as it recycles 96 per cent of coke oven gas for power generation. It uses sophisticated ambient air control infrastructure and has reduced gas flaring to lower levels.