Jindal Steel stabilises production

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 13. The Jindal Vijaynagar Steel Plant (JVSL), based in Bellary (Karnataka), has produced 6.09 lakh tonnes of hot rolled coil in 1999-2000, the first full year of commercial production. The capacity of the plant in the first phase is supposed to be eight lakh tonnes a year. The total sales chalked up during the year is valued at around Rs. 1,000 crores, of which 10 per cent is from exports.

It may be recalled that JVSL is unique among Indian integrated steel plants in that it utilises the Corex process, developed by Voest Alpine of Austria, for making hot metal from iron ore. The Corex process makes use of non-coking coal as a reductant.

Although there was an initial hiccup during the commissioning stage of the first Corex furnace last year, production has now stabilised and in March this year, the furnace is reported to have produced at 120 per cent of its rated capacity. Peak production was reached on March 19, when 2,898 tonnes of hot metal was produced, which is 33 per cent above the guaranteed production rate. The ferrous feed going into the furnace consists of 26.8 per cent lump iron ore, 9.5 per cent iron ore fines and 63.7 per cent iron ore pellets.

The implementation of the second phase, which will raise the capacity to 1.76 million tonnes a year, is fairly advanced with the second Corex furnace, the second slab reheating furnace and the pelletisation plant scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

The second BOF (basic oxygen furnace also known as LD converter) was commissioned in November last year and the third is to be installed next year.

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