“Use of low grade ore is the need of the hour”, said Industry experts at seminar by FIMI

FIMI (Federation of Indian Minerals Industries)
organized a 2-day seminar on “Raw Materials for Iron & Steel Industry” on
8^th & 9^th of October at Kolkata.

Policy
makers in Government, representatives of industry, trading companies, buyers,
steel companies, technologists and people from all allied branches attended the
seminar to discuss on the current scenario of raw material & Steel industry
globally & the relevant technologies to make use of low grade ore/ lean
ore/ slimes. Logistics & Infrastructural issues were also covered on the 2nd
day of the seminar.

Following
are few extracts of the presentations made in the seminar:

A.C.R. das, Industrial
Advisor, Ministry of Steel, New Delhi discussed about the Technology and Research & Development Issues in Indian Steel Sector
and said, “Crude steel capacity has increased from 78 MT in Mar’ 2011 to 90 MT
in Mar, 2012 and is further projected to increase to 149 MT in 2017 and to 500 MT
by 2050”.

He also highlighted the technological challenges
& the road map ahead giving a special focus on the 3Rs‐ Reduction, Reuse
and Recycle & 100% usage of slag.

Kaushik Brahma, Head, Industry Research Group, Tata Steel Limited
made a presentation on Global Scenario and Future Strategies of Raw Materials. He
highlighted on the Global Steel production trend, important material reserve situation globally and the
sustainable technological solutions.

According to him at the current
rate, “the global Steel production will hit 2 Billion tons by 2020. And to
produce 2 that we will require 3.3 billion tons of Iron Ore, 1.3 billion tons
of Coal, 300 million tons of Limestone, Other materials. And the available
resources will not be sufficient to meet the demand. So, Steelmakers across the
globe are increasingly looking at developing or adopting new technologies to
use leaner raw materials”

V. Bobraj Jeyaharan, GM(Materials),
KIOCL Ltd discussed on Pelletisation and
its contribution to increase steel productivity. He said that, Pelletizing
plants are expected to play an important role in the present era when the
global reserve of high grade lump ore is shrinking. The plants promote the
concentrating of low grade ore into upgraded pellets, which will be increasingly
used by blast furnaces and direct reduction furnaces”.

Dr. A.K. Mukherjee, Principal
Scientist, Tata Steel R&D spoke on the importance of iron ore pellets for sustainable mining
practices. Speaking about the use of low grade ores in the blast furnace
he said, “To maximise our reserves,
use of low grade iron ore is must. Use of pellets can dramatically improve the performance of rotary kilns
– in terms of productivity, reducing coal consumption and fines generation.

“We are also developing new
beneficiation techniques to reduce alumina without yield loss and to
beneficiate ultra fine fraction & Slimes. However, Beneficiation at ultra fine size level will be a challenge as Dewatering
of ultra fines concentrate will be a concern and Zero waste beneficiation plant
will be preferred”, he added while saying about Tata’s steel  effort to use of low grade ore.

B K Mohanty, Former Director of Mining
& Geology, Odisha spoke on
Logistics Requirement for Development of Iron Ore resources for Iron and steel
making in Odisha.  Speaking on the mode
of transportation of ore from Odisha, he highlighted on the current set-back on
account of stoppage of road transport from the mines in Keonjhar/ Sundargarh
districts to Paradip. He also laid focus on the differential freight rates to
transport ore for domestic use & for exports.