Bhubaneswar:
The Brahmani River pellets ltd. (BRPL) has demanded royalty waiver from low
grade iron ore in order to promote the pelletization industry in the state.
“The
government should reduce or completely waive the royalty on the low grade iron
ore in order to incentivise the pelletization industry.
The pellet industry
consumes the unusable low grade iron ore stashed at various mines causing
severe environmental problems†said Mr.N.D.Rao, Managing Diector,BRPL.
The government
collects 10% royalty on the sale price of the low grade iron ore fines on ad valorem
basis.
Currently the low grade iron ore fines are being sold at around Rs.1500
per ton.
Low grade
iron ore, iron ore fines and iron ore tailings/slimes accumulated over the
years at mine heads and generated during the existing washing processes, need
to be beneficiated to provide concentrates of required quality to the Indian
steel plants.
However, these concentrates are too fine in size to be used
directly in the existing iron making processes.
For utilizing this fine
concentrate, pelletization is the only alternative available. Pelletizing turns
very fine-grained iron ore into balls of a certain diameter, also known as
pellets, which are suitable for blast furnace and direct reduction.
Mr Rao
added that BRPL’s 4 million tonnes per annum pelletization plant in Jajpur
District has been completed and waiting for raw materials to commence
production.
The company is in talks with OMC and private miners (including
MESCO ) for supply of low grade iron ore fines.
The company has invested Rs.2100
crore in this project.
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