Calcutta, April 29: The development of Rowghat mines by Bhilai Steel Plant seems a reality now.
The Chhattisgarh government has forwarded BSP?s application for forestry clearance to the Centre.
Rowghat, located 185 km from Bhilai in the Bastar region, is crucial for BSP, whose existing captive iron ore mines at Dalli-Rajhara have only about 100 MT iron ore reserves left ? enough to last a maximum of six years.
Chhattisgarh, which has been sitting on the application for a long time, has forwarded it to the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) on the basis of the revised regional mine development plan and feasibility report for Rowghat submitted by the Indian Bureau of Mines, Nagpur.
The proposed expansion plan of Bhilai Steel Plant, the most profitable unit of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), will take off only if SAIL gets control over Rowghat mines.
?It is absolutely vital to get a lease of the Rowghat mines for the long term survival of BSP,? managing director R. P. Singh told The Telegraph.
BSP needs about 2,400 hectares of forestland for the mine. It needs to dig up 14 million tonnes (MT) of ore to procure 12 MT of iron to feed its expanded capacity that will be operational from 2011-12.
The company needs five years to develop the mine with an estimated cost of Rs 1,000-1,500 crore. A railway track will also be laid from Rowghat to the plant at a cost of Rs 350 crore.
The unit is hopeful of starting work on the project in the next six months.
Under the corporate plan, the plant will produce hot metal of 7 MT, crude steel of 6.7 MT and saleable steel of 6.21 MT.
Going forward, Botanical Survey of India and Zoological Survey of India will conduct a study on Rowghat, based on which the National Environment Engineering Research Institute, an environmental research body based in Nagpur, will conduct the environment impact assessment and environment management plan for the Rowghat block.
MoEF had given the stage 1 clearance to prepare a detailed project report.
Meanwhile, the Central Mining Research Institute, Dhanbad, has been engaged by BSP to prepare a mining plan.
