Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Seeks Link-Ups To Sell Slag

These projects will help Jindal Vijayanagar to profitably dispose of by products expected to be generated by its 1.6-million tonne integrated steel plant being set up in Karnataka.

Jindal Vijayanagar is negotiating with Associated Cement Companies and Indian Rayon (Rajshree Cements) to sell the slag that that its 1.6 million tonne capacity steel plant will be generating.

Under the deal being negotiated, Jindal Vijayanagar will be selling slag to cement units on a long-term basis.

The cement company, in turn, will set up a production unit near the steel plant to convert the slag into cement.

Jindal is also looking at a possible joint venture to set up a fertiliser unit, vice chairman of the company Sajjan Jindal said.

 

The foray into fertilisers is being planned to commercially exploit the nitrogen and hydrogen gases that the Corex route produces as a by-product.

The gases can be converted into ammonia which, in turn, is the prime raw material for all fertilisers.

Jindal Vijayanagar already has a joint venture with United States-based Praxair to commercially exploit the oxygen which will be produced during steel making through the Corex process.

The plant is expected to produce 300 kg of slag per tonne of steel.

In the first phase, the plant is expected to produce 4.8 million tonnes of slag.

At the current rate of Rs 300-Rs 400 per tonne of slag, Jindal Vijayanagar is expected to make about Rs 190 crore from the sale of slag alone.

Jindal Vijayanagar will be the first Indian integrated unit to employ Corex technology for its plant.

Iscor of South Africa and Posco of South Korea are the other two companies to use this technology developed by Voest Alpine of Austria.

The process uses non-coking coal as against metallurgical coal used by the other steel plants based on the blast furnace route.

The company is slated to become the fourth largest integrated steel plant in the country, and is scheduled to start production next year.

The other Jindal group company, Jindal Iron and Steel, will be consuming 33 per cent of the flat products that the plant will produce.

Being the only integrated steel plant located in South India, the unit will have the locational advantage of 5-6 per cent on the selling price over other producers who have to incur a high transportation cost.

The new project cost for the 1.6-million tonne plant is Rs 4,015 crore, up from the earlier estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crore.

The additional expense is due to the pelletisation plant which the company has subsequently added on to the project.

This move will help increase the unit's capacity from earlier 1.25 million tonne per annum to 1.6 million tonne per annum.