India: Bellary DRI Producers to benefit from Minera’s Pellets

Iron pellet production capacity in Karnataka ramps up to 18.3 MnT as Minera Steel & Power has started a 0.6 MnT pa Pellet plant.

Minera Steel & Power’s 0.6 MnT pa Pellet plant in Bellary (Karnataka) was commissioned by VT Corp on 19 Aug, 2014. It is the smallest module in straight grate technology and was commissioned in 14 months.

Additional Director and CEO, Minera Steel & Power, Nand Kumar Kadloor in conversation with SteelMint remarked, “I foresee good demand for our Pellets as Sponge iron manufacturers located in Bellary region of Karnataka will get benefit in terms of costing as well as logistical advantage.”

He further stated, we are producing Fe 62.5+/- DR grade Pellets, which would be available for over 17 Sponge iron producers, having 100 TPD kiln within 30 km radius. Their total requirement is around 2,200 MT Pellets per day, out of which about 1,300 MT can be supplied by Minera. These customers would be able to save INR 200-250/MT on transportation and INR 300-350/MT on Sponge iron costing.

Adding on, Mr. Kadloor quoted, “After commissioning the plant on 19 Aug, 2014, we have produced about 800 MT of material and used for in-house consumption. Nearly, 40-45% of total Pellets manufactured will be consumed in our 0.12 MnT DRI plant (4 Kilns); the rest for domestic sales”.

NMDC is expected to start commercial production of 1.2 MnT pa Pellet plant in Karnataka by Dec’14, taking the state’s total capacity to 19.5 MnT.

India’s Iron pellet installed capacity was 66.6 MnT pa in FY14 and estimated to reach about 91.2 MnT pa in FY15, with a capacity expansion of 24.6 MnT in pipeline.

Pellet Plants in Karnataka

Capacity in MnT
**Captive consumption
*Expected to start commercial production by Dec’14
Source: SteelMint Research