BSLC to give Rashtriya Ispat raw material security

State-run Rashtriya Ispat Nigam is all set to be at par with SAIL and Tata Steel on raw material security front, as mining firms OMDC and BSLC would formally be made its subsidiaries in the six months.

OMDC and BSLC are operational units of the Bird Group of Companies, which was placed under the management control of RINL a fortnight back.

The government notified the restructuring process and now it awaits certain clearances from the RINL board and the Company Law Board, which are likely to completed in the next six months, Steel Secretary P K Rastogi told PTI.

"Handing over management control of Orissa Mineral Development Corporation (OMDC) and BSLC to RINL will ensure raw material security to the steel plant (RINL), which does not have iron ore mines since inception and thus bring it at par with Tata Steel and SAIL," he said.

State-owned RINL is undertaking Rs 12,000-crore expansion project, which will double its annual production capacity to about 6.2 million tonnes by next fiscal.

OMDC has an estimated iron ore reserves of 200 million tonnes. Iron ore is vital raw material for making steel. Bisra Stone Lime Company has limestone reserves of 367 million tonnes and dolomite of about 280 million tonnes.

"It (restructuring of Bird Group of companies) is the biggest complex exercise ever undertaken by the Steel Ministry and will have far reaching impact. Apart from giving RINL the much-needed raw material security it will result in strengthening and diversification of the firms too," Rastogi added.

OMDC and BSLC have planned an investment of Rs 1,000 crore to set up a pelletisation and a cement plant respectively, besides upgrading their existing facilities. The plants were likely to come up in a phased manner by 2012 at their existing sites, he said.

Besides, setting up the Rs 900-crore pelletisation plant, where iron ore is converted into pelets for steel making, OMDC would also expand its capacity to produce sponge iron from 100 lakh per tonne to 300 lakh per tonne.

It has also plans to set up a ferro alloy and ferro manganese plant as it has manganese reserves of about 44 million tonnes, he said.

BSLC will set up a 1-MTPA cement plant which is expected to cost the company Rs 100 crore.

The forward-integration plans of the two firms as a whole will benefit from the managerial expertise of its new parent RINL, Rastogi added.

On September 10, the government announced handing over the management control of The Bird Group of Companies to RINL.