Faced with stiff margins pressure in iron ore fines exports due to poor demand and higher transportation cost and taxes, most of the miners of the state are now planning to foray into pellet production to cater to the rising demand of the domestic steel industry for the commodity.

“Iron ore fines exports have come down to a level that is a fraction of what it used be a couple of years ago. Fines were being shipped out as the Indian steel industry did not have the technology to use it.

However, Chairman of SAIL, NMDC positive about development

Differences on shareholding issue continue to come in the way of formation of two steel-making joint ventures--SAIL-Posco and NMDC-Severstal--involving over Rs 35,000 crore investment, as both the overseas firms are insisting on owning majority stakes in them. Though differences between the two domestic firms and the overseas entities over the issue has been on for quite some time now without signs of an early settlement, C S Verma, Chairman of both SAIL and NMDC, sees light at the end of the tunnel.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is planning to make public hearings mandatory for all mining licences coming up for renewal or where the mine is going in for expansion. The move is expected to add another layer of control over mining activities at a time when the Prime Minister’s Office is keen to ease regulations and speed up projects.

Public hearing is a mandatory step in the process of environmental clearance for addressing concerns of affected persons which is conducted by the state pollution control board (SPCB). It is supposed to be completed within 45 days from the date of receipt of the request letter from the applicant, but often, the time taken is much more. Normally, the process is adopted while giving a fresh mining lease.

Perspectives of industries and non-government bodies often differ on environment protection norms. While NGOs insist on putting in place the most stringent environment safety standards, industries often find it difficult to comply with such norms.

Similarly, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-government organisation, and public sector steel maker SAIL are unable to agree on what would be the right green norms for the steel industry.

Kolkata Steel maker SAIL has decided to outsource development of two huge virgin iron ore mines at Rowghat in Chhattisgarh and Chiria in Jharkhand, a company official has said.

‘‘Rowghat—which will have a capacity of 14 million tonne per annum and Chiria— 15 mt are crucial for SAIL’s capacity expansion,’’ Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) director (raw materials & logistics) AK Pandey told PTI here. ‘‘We have decided to develop these two mines through mine developer-cum-operators. We hope to get a good response in this route being tried for the first time by the company,’’ he said.

Outsourcing would reduce SAIL's mine development investment by around Rs 2,500 crore

Steel maker SAIL has decided to outsource the development of two huge virgin iron ore mines at Rowghat in Chhatisgarh and Chiria in Jharkhand, a company official has said. "Rowghat, which will have a capacity of 14 million tonne per annum and Chiria, 15 MT, are crucial for SAIL's capacity expansion," Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) Director,

500 mn tonne worth of coal mines is target for acquisitions by 2020

International Coal Ventures Limited, or ICVL, was the epitome of India’s babudom running public sector undertakings (PSUs). Five major public PSUs — NTPC, SAIL, NMDC, Coal India and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) — with a war chest of Rs 10,000 crore had come together for this initiative to buy coal blocks outside the country. However, since its inception on May 20, 2009, the venture has failed to acquire even a single asset. And, two of its integral members, Coal India and NTPC, have clarified they aren’t interested in being a part of ICVL any more.

Ranchi, July 24: The Saranda villagers’ wish of getting piped water and toilets at their houses may actually get fulfilled.

New Delhi The government on Thursday approved a proposal for divestment of 10.82% government stake in steel major SAIL and decided to impose an effective duty of 22.3% on import of power equipment — a move that would help public sector BHEL and private firm L&T.

740.6 acre of land owned by VSNL is expected to get R10,000 crore to the exchequer. The company has 740.6 acre of surplus land across three states — Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The new import duty on power equipment for all commercial projects include 5%import duty, 12% CVD and 4% SAD.

Monnet Ispat and Jindal Steel have also been shortlisted by the Afghan Govt

Aluminium producer Nalco, in consortium with steel major SAIL and Hindustan Copper, will submit a bid for developing gold and copper deposits in Afghanistan this month, a top company official said on Wednesday. The consortium of Indian PSUs is among the 25 companies/ consortia from the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada, the UAE, Turkey and Afghanistan that have been shortlisted by the Afghan Government in April for developing its gold and copper mines.