Essar Steel starts up Orissa iron ore pellet plant

: Metals
14/11/28

India's Essar Steel has started operations at its 6mn t/yr iron ore pelletisation plant in Orissa's coastal town of Paradip.

The pellet plant is connected via a 253km, 12mn t/yr slurry pipeline to a beneficiation plant in Keonjhar, also in Orissa. It is also connected via a 9.5km conveyer belt to an exclusive berth for Essar at Paradip port. The company has invested around $1bn in setting up the integrated facility.

With the commissioning of the Orissa plant, Essar's total pelletising capacity is 14mn t/yr, with an 8mn t/yr pellet plant already in operation at Vizag in south India.

Essar said it will soon complete the expansion of the Paradip pellet plant to 12mn t/yr, along with upscaling the beneficiation plant. It makes sense to expand in Orissa, the company said, given it is the country's largest iron ore producer that has a large output of lower grade iron ore fines.

Essar currently has the largest pelletising capacity in India, aiming to become one of the largest pelletisers in the world with the commissioning of its 7mn t/yr US pellet plant in Minnesota and the additional 6mn t/yr capacity at Paradip. These expansions will take Essar's total pelletising capacity to 27mn t/yr, tying with Sweden's LKAB as the third-largest global pellet producer behind Brazil's Vale and Samarco.

Essar uses part of the pellet production for its 10mn t/yr Indian steel plant in Gujarat state, but sells the rest in domestic and overseas markets. India's pellet exports have been hit since the imposition of a 5pc export duty in January this year.

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25/12/19

Chile to audit SQM-Codelco lithium deal

Sao Paulo, 19 December (Argus) — Chile's comptroller general office (CGR) will audit "certain operations associated with" the SQM-Codelco agreement to form a lithium production joint venture, following complaints by some of the country's parliamentarians and indigenous communities, further delaying the deal. CGR on 18 December said its scope is limited to verifying whether government actions follow the law and to audit public spending. The agency said that it is forbidden from judging whether a policy or administrative decision is a good idea or convenient. CGR does not have the power to veto the deal, because the main legal challenges to the agreement are either in court, where the watchdog has been ordered not to comment, have already been resolved by judges, or involve policy judgments that Chilean law does not allow CGR to review. As a result, its role is limited to reviewing the agreement for potential irregularities. It can flag legal inconsistencies and delay the deal's effective date until any identified issues are rectified. CGR's audit will focus on the state-owned company Codelco's financial advisory contract with investment bank Morgan Stanley, as well as Codelco's operations, to determine whether public resources are being used appropriately. The audit will also examine claims from a congressional investigative commission regarding the transparency of the negotiation process, SQM's tax situation, and a clause that relates to Codelco's obligation to sell 100pc of extracted potassium to SQM under the partnership. The Atacama desert's brines, from which the joint venture will produce lithium, contain potassium that is precipitated and extracted alongside lithium. Additionally, CGR will review whether the companies' directors acted lawfully and examine Chile's economic development agency Corfo's approval of the contracts that underpin the partnership. These include Corfo's contracts with SQM, which allow lithium extraction in the Atacama salt flats through December 31, 2030, and its contracts with Codelco's lithium subsidiary Minera Tarar, which enables operations at the site from 2031 to 2060. Corfo's mining lease and project contracts are a key legal step in allowing Codelco to partner with a private company — SQM, in this case — to mine lithium in that area under the national lithium strategy of President Gabriel Boric, who leaves office in March. Although the SQM-Codelco agreement , which was struck in May 2024 and would extend SQM's authorization to continue extracting lithium in the Atacama salt flats from January 2031 to 31 December 2060, does not have a hard deadline to close, it is still running against the clock. If the deal is not sealed by 31 December 2025, a contract clause in the partnership agreement allows any party to void the deal if they so choose. If this deadline is not met, Chile would also reduce SQM's lithium extraction quota by 300,000 metric tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent for the remaining period until 31 December 2030, when the company's current mining permit ends. The joint-venture also faces opposition from Chile's newly elected president Jose Antonio Kast . The far-right politician said he would honor the deal if it is sealed before he takes office, but risk of an overturn would grow if that condition is not met before he is sworn in on 11 March 2026. By Pedro Consoli Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Mexico central bank cuts target rate to 7pc

25/12/19

Mexico central bank cuts target rate to 7pc

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Viewpoint: Al industry faces structural Europe decline

25/12/19

Viewpoint: Al industry faces structural Europe decline

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Viewpoint: Indonesia’s MHP surge to hit nickel prices

25/12/19

Viewpoint: Indonesia’s MHP surge to hit nickel prices

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US inflation slows to 2.7pc in November

25/12/18

US inflation slows to 2.7pc in November

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