Thriveni Earthmmovers to diversify into pellet making

Mine raising contractor Thriveni Earthmovers Ltd, active in the state's iron ore rich Joda sector, plans to diversify into pellet making by forging a joint venture with KJS Ahluwalia which owns the Nuagaon iron ore mines.

The proposed pellet plant is being taken up at a cost of Rs 500 crore near Barbil in Keonjhar district over an area of 50 acres. The project will have pellet making capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) along with a 100 MW captive power plant (CPP).

“We have got land and electricity as well as consent to establish the plant. Thriveni Earthmovers will hold 30 per cent stake in the project with the remaining 70 per cent stake held by KJS Ahluwalia. The production will begin in next 24 months,” said B Prabhakaran , managing director of Thriveni Earthmovers Ltd.

Apart from pellet making, Thriveni is also looking to utilize low grade iron ore in the state in a big way through beneficiation, a move the company hopes will result in slump in iron ore prices by about 50 per cent.

“We are in talks with a few mine owners for beneficiation of low grade iron ore in the state. We are thinking of a centralized plant in the Joda-Koira belt where beneficiation can be taken up on a huge scale. The beneficiation of every single million tonne of low grade iron ore will cost us Rs 40 crore. Thriveni is mulling to take up beneficiation of iron ore with Fe content as low as 40 per cent and take it beyond 60 per cent. This, we believe, can bring down iron ore prices by 50 per cent,” said Prabhakaran.

“At Thriveni, it is our constant endeavour to raise productivity of mines by bringing in the best of technologies. For instance, for every acre of forest lost, we see what is the productivity and we intend to double it,” he added.

Meanwhile, Thriveni is looking to replace river sand with manufactured sand by crushing rock and washing it up to 150 microns.

“We have got the lease spread over 500 acres close to Chennai. Our plant will have a capacity of one mtpa of sand and we are investing Rs 200 crore on this project. Construction has started and production is expected to take off in about a year,” said Prabhakaran.

The company is aiming to assert its presence in the international market. It has been allotted a coal block in Indonesia's Jamitri province with proven reserves of 120 million tonnes. The coal block is owned by Pt Thriveni, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Thriveni Earthmovers.

Presently, we are mining one mtpa of coal from the Indonesian block but we hope to scale it up to four mtpa, said Prabhakaran.

“There is big scope for infrastructure building business in Mozambique and we are looking to tap this opportunity,” he added.

Presently, Thirveni Earthmovers is engaged as a mine raising contractor by seven lessees in Koenjhar district- KJS Ahluwalia, Tata Steel, Kalinga Mining Corporation, Indrani Patnaik, D R Patnaik, R P Sao and Serajuddin & Company.

With a turnover of around Rs 850 crore, the company employs over 3,000 people who besides Thriveni Earthmovers are also engaged in Maa Tarini Logistics. This logistics company operating out of Guali in Keonjhar district, has 51 per cent shareholding by employees while the balance 49 per cent is held by the promoter's family.