JSW Steel plans 20MT capacity at Bellary, Rs 2000 crore iron ore pipeline

JSW Steel is working towards a de-risking strategy for iron ore that will fuel its ambition to turn its Bellary plant into world's largest single-site steel plant by 2022.

"We are setting up 500km slurry pipeline to import iron-ore into the Vijayanagar plant in Bellary from a port near Goa. My vision is to turn Vijayanagar from 10 million tonne to 20 million tonne, world's largest single site steel plant by 2022," JSW Steel Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal said here on Sunday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of inauguration Ispat Pragati Bhawan, the new office of Insdag.

He said Karnataka can offer maximum iron-ore of 15 million tonne, while to take the steel production to 20 million tonne, JSW would require 35 million tonne of iron-ore.

Jindal said to lay the 500 km pipeline from Jaigarh near Goa to Bellary district would cost about Rs 2000 crore and the same will come up over the next two years.

The project will pump imported iron-ore from overseas sources and will have an annual freight cost saving of Rs 2000 crore and that will help neutralise the cost disadvantage of imported iron-ore, the company said.

JSW on Sunday said only 50% of its iron-ore requirement is fed by domestic sources, mostly from Karnataka.