SAIL chairman S.K. Roongta in Calcutta on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Nov. 17: Jharkhand has allotted 810 million tonnes of Chiria’s iron ore reserves to Steel Authority of India Ltd and has promised to grant a lease for another 200 million tonnes.

SAIL chairman S.K. Roongta today said the state government, which has so far opposed the PSU’s claim on the country’s largest deposit of high-quality ore, has written to the company confirming the allotment.

“The state will also allow us leases for another 200mt deposits in Chiria,” he said, signalling an early end of a long-drawn-out battle for the control of Chiria.

The mine, where IISCO Steel Plant held 10 leases before being merged with SAIL, contains 2 billion tonnes of high-grade ore. Roongta said the company was in discussions with the Jharkhand government for the remaining reserves.

According to an understanding between SAIL and the state signed in 2006-07 in the presence of then steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan, SAIL is to get 1 billion tonnes of ore to feed its existing plants.

Jharkhand had agreed to hand over the other 1 billion tonnes if SAIL sets up a plant in the state. The company’s Bokaro steel plant is in Jharkhand, but the Chiria mines serve SAIL’s other units too, including the Durgapur and Burnpur facilities in Bengal. The PSU has proposed to set up a 15mt plant in Jharkhand to get the other 1 billion tonnes.

All major private steel players such as Tata Steel, JSW and ArcelorMittal are keen to get a slice of Chiria. ArcelorMittal had even proposed a joint venture with SAIL, but it did not make any headway.

Expansion mode

SAIL will spend Rs 60,000 crore on expansion, modernisation and product diversification and will fund the programme in a 1:1 debt-equity ratio, Roongta said. He was in the city to attend a seminar jointly organised by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and the National Manufacturing Competitive Council.