The SAIL-led consortium, which has won the bid for Hajigak
iron ore mines in Afghanistan, may have to invest a total of about $11 billion
in developing the project over the next eight to 10 years.
The consortium proposes to set up a 6 million tonne per
annum steel plant in two phases of 3 mpta each with an investment of $7-7.5
billion, said the SAIL Chairman, Mr C.S. Verma.
It also proposes to set up a 1,000-MW power plant and a
road-rail link of about 200 km from the mines to the plant site besides
developing the required infrastructure.
“The steel plant will materialise only if the Afghanistan
Government provides us linkages for coking coal and limestone,” Mr Verma said.
The Hajigak iron ore deposit, situated in the mountainous
Bamyan province, 130 km west of Kabul, is one of several iron deposits within
this area but is the largest located to date.
According to Afghan geological studies, the ore occurs
within the Herat fault zone. An Afghan-Soviet study in the 1960s demonstrated
the mineral potential of the region, and estimated the Hajigak resource
(in-place) at 1.8 billion tonnes of iron ore with a concentration of
approximately 62 per cent ferrous (Fe).
The reserves of the Hajigak's A, B and C blocks, for which
development rights have been awarded, have been placed based on conservative
estimates of around 484, 930 and 357 million tonnes respectively. For the
smaller 'D' block no official figure but analysts said it could be around 100
million tonnes.
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