India’s NMDC and NLC to Set up a R&D Facility and Steel Production Project in Association with an Australian Firm

India’s state-owned NMDC (National Mineral Development Corporation) and NLC (Neyveli Lignite Corporation) has signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Australia’s ECT (Environmental Clean Technologies Limited) for setting up a research and development facility in Tamil Nadu.

The facility would focus on the development of innovative technologies in iron and steel-making and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for setting up a steel manufacturing unit would be created upon successful completion of the R&D phase of the project.

The USD 26.2 million master project agreement includes a research and development project that will use technologies aimed at lower cost, lower emission iron and steel production using lower grade or waste iron ore and low-rank coal resources.

The research project aims to use ECT’s Coldry-Matmor process technology to produce 2 MT of steel on per hour basis. Matmor is a unique method for producing high-quality iron from inexpensive, abundant brown coal (lignite) and iron oxide bearing material such as mill scale, nickel tailings and, of course, high or low grade iron ore. It delivers a clean iron product according to the size/shape and carbon content requirements of the end user. Matmor iron is a high-quality substitute for, or supplement to, scrap metal feedstock used in Electric Arc or Induction Furnaces.

ECT would also evolve its Coldry technology for reduction of moisture to low levels of at least 12% in lignite and subsequently adapt the technology for the upgrading of NLC’s lignite mines.

The two phases of the project

The project involves two phases: Commencing with an AUD (Australian Dollar) 35-million (USD 26.2 million) R&D phase funded by the Indian partners, which aims at scaling up ECT matmor-coldry technologies to deliver an integrated pilot plant capable of producing approximately two tonnes of metal per hour.

Phase-II involves commercial expansion targeting an integrated steel-making facility with a proposed capacity of five-lakh-tonne per annum of billet production at an estimated cost of AUD 300 million.

While India’s largest iron-ore supplier NMDC will be supplying iron-ore, NLC would supply lignite, infrastructure, and land for the project. NCL which operates predominantly in Southern India has four open-cast lignite mines of a total capacity of 30.6 MTPA (Million Tonnes per Annum) and five thermal power stations with a total installed capacity of 3,240 MW (Megawatt).