The blowdown process of the blast furnace began on November 26 and subsequently, the capital repair work would begin from November 30. The whole exercise is targeted to be completed in 90 days.
The blast furnace capital repair work is seen as a precursor to the steel unit's turnaround. After completion of capital repair, the blast furnace would produce hot metal.
Along with the production of pig iron, with the improved hot metal production, NINL plans to regain steel billet production after restarting the steel melting shop (SMS) in full capacity which will help the company fetch more profit.
"We have chalked out a detailed plan for the turnaround of the company. The blast furnace capital repair along with the running of SMS in full capacity and operation of the captive mines at Koira are major milestones to achieve for the accomplishment of the company’s plans,” said S S Mohanty, vice-chairman & managing director, NINL.
The company expects to start mining operation after its captive mines at Koira gets the final Stage-II forest clearance. The nod is expected to come in the next few months from Ministry of Environment & Forest & Climate Change (MoEF).
Apart from MMTC which owns 49.78 per cent equity in NINL, two Odisha government PSUs- Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol) have stakes in the steel project. NINL's current product portfolio comprises steel billets, pig iron and LAM (low ash metallurgical) coke along with nut coke, coke breeze, crude tar, ammonium sulphate and granulated slag.
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