In a major relief to the Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL), Odisha High Court has ordered the steelmaker to lift its iron ore stocks lying at Sarda Mines.
Mr. Manish Kharbandha, ED at JSPL shared -” We have been allowed by Odisha High Court to lift legally procured and royalty paid iron ore stocks lying at Sarda mines. We will be approaching Department of Mines, Odisha for further proceedings but we are hopeful that we will resume lifting iron ore from Sarda mines shortly”.
Owing to lack of necessary clearances, Sarda mines had been closed since Apr’14. It being the major source of iron ore for JSPL, the steel maker was dependent on Odisha merchant miners like Kaypee Enterprises, Serajuddin Mines and Rungta Mines.
JSPL’s Tensa Mines is operational which has capacity of 2-2.5 MnT pa, which is not enough run their 9 MnT Pellet plant in Barbil (Odisha). Since mining operations were suspended at Sarda Mines, JSPL was facing shortage of iron ore.
It is estimated that Sarda Mines has inventory that amounts to more than 10-11 MnT. Hence, this positive development might give a big relief to the steel maker in terms of iron ore sourcing.
JSPL iron ore and pellet sourcing in FY16
| Particulars | Qty (in MT) |
| i) Captive Sourcing | 2,508,263 |
| Captive mines | 2,508,263 |
| ii) Merchant Sourcing | 4,222,606 |
| Odisha | 3,956,956 |
| NMDC (C.G.) | 196,350 |
| BRPL (Pellet) | 11,550 |
| Others | 57,750 |
| Total ( i + ii) | 6,730,869 |
Data updated till Feb’16
Provisional data
Source: Odisha govt, Railways
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