Ore at the core

Ranchi, June 7: L.N. Mittal is back in Jharkhand after a brief rendezvous with Orissa. Top Arcelor Mittal officials from London will fly down to Ranchi next week to speed up the proposed 12-million-tonne integrated steel plant project at an investment of Rs 43,000 crore.

Mittal Steel had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jharkhand government amid much fanfare in October 2005, but the project is yet to take off.

The delay in allocating suitable iron ore reserves and announcing a rehabilitation and resettlement policy by the Jharkhand government had prompted Mittal to go to the neighbouring state of Orissa where it signed a similar MoU, raising doubts about the Jharkhand project.

The possibility of an out-of-court settlement with public sector Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and the state over the Chiria mines may have rekindled the interest of the world’s largest steel company in Jharkhand.

The quality of the iron ore in Chiria is the best in Asia. Steel companies keen on Jharkhand want to have a slice of the ore.

Sudhir Maheshwari, executive vice-president (finance and M&A) and member of Arcelor Mittal’s group executive committee, said the group mining head M.P. Singh would be in Ranchi next week.

Maheshwari said Arcelor Mittal had been working hard on the Jharkhand project and was giving its best to get the project up and running. “We hope the Jharkhand government will help us get the needed iron ore mines to start the project,” he said.

The senior Mittal official refused to comment on the possibility of the out-of-court settlement between SAIL and the Jharkhand government. But said if that happened it would be good news for all.

Though no state government official went on record, sources said it was highly likely that jharkhand had assured Mittal Steel of ore from Chiria. This could be on the basis of a verbal assurance by SAIL to the state government over the release of 700-1,000mt from Chiria for use by others.

The existing reserves of iron ore in Jharkhand is about 3,700mt, with Chiria (including Gua and Kiriburu) accounting for 2,400mt.