Navin Jindal: Upbeat

Calcutta, April 25: Jindal Steel & Power Ltd has received a licence from the Bolivian government for exploration work at the El Mutun iron ore mine.

Navin Jindal, executive vice-chairman of Jindal Steel, said the exploration work would take about six months.

“We expect mining to start by the end of this year,” Jindal said in Calcutta today.

El Mutun has one of the world’s largest iron ore reserves — estimated at 40 million tonnes (mt) — albeit of low quality.

Jindal Steel plans to invest $2 billion in the mining and steel project in Bolivia. It will set up a 2-million-tonne steel plant, which is expected to be completed by 2011.

The company also intends to set up a 6-million-tonne sponge iron unit in Bolivia.

Besides internal consumption and sale within Bolivia, a sizeable chunk of the sponge iron will be exported.

Jindal ruled out the possibility of bringing iron ore from Bolivia to India.

His elder brother Sajjan, the promoter of JSW Steel, which is setting up a plant in Bengal, has bought an iron ore mine in another South American country, Peru.

Sajjan had said he could look at bringing iron ore to India or swapping the ore.

Jindal Steel is planning large scale expansion within India as well.

Apart from expanding the existing Raigarh unit to 6mt from 3mt, it has proposed two new units in Orissa and Jharkhand.

In Orissa, Jindal Steel will set up a 12mt plant, with 6.5mt capacity in the first phase, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

The Jharkhand plant will be of 6mt capacity. The first phase in Jharkhand will also be over by 2010.

However, implementing the plans within a specified time frame will not be easy. Securing land, captive coal and iron ore mines will be challenging.

Jindal, who was in Calcutta to attend a meeting of a ladies organisation — Millennium Mams, called for the creation of more steel capacities in India to fight inflation.

He hoped steel prices would not go up further. “In certain categories it has come down. I think prices have peaked already.”