NINL turnaround plan gets boost after capital repair

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) has resumed hot metal production after capital repair of the blast furnace at its Odisha's Kalinga Nagar plant, a company official said.

NINL also plans to restart billet production, he said.

"The landmark of the turnaround of NINL was achieved with the completion of the much-awaited category-1 extended capital repair of its 1.1 million ton blast furnace, which was followed by resumption of hot metal production," the official said.

The capacity utilisation of the blast furnace will be 100 per cent and will produce around 3,500 tn hot metal per day, whereas earlier, production could reach up to 50-55 per cent capacity only, he said.

"Along with production of pig iron, with the improved hot metal production, NINL plans to resume steel billet production after restarting the steel melting shop (SMS) in full capacity, which will impact the company's bottom line," said S S Mohanty, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of NINL.

With the restarting of SMS, NINL will get further boost to its turnaround plan when the captive mines of the company at Koira gets operational this year, Mohanty said.

The Odisha-based NINL had started the capital repair process of its 15-year-old blast furnace in November last year.

Promoted by MMTC Ltd, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha and Odisha Mining Corporation, NINL has set up an 1.1 mt integrated iron and steel plant at Kalinga Nagar.

The facility produces steel billets, pig iron and LAM coke along with nut coke, coke breeze, crude tar, ammonium sulfate and granulated slag.