November, 23 2006
Australian units eye mining projects
More than 40 Australian mining companies have come to Kolkata to participate in International Mining and Machinery Exhibition (IMME).
The head of the Australian delegation, Mr Craig Senger, said that the delegation has already visited mines of Essel Mining, Sail (Bolari), Bengal Emta, TATA Steel and Ramrupai Balaji to assess the ground reality
"Australia has a world class mining sector and its mining companies are highly innovative and productive. We are the largest exporter of iron ore, coal, lead, zinc and diamonds," he added.
Mr Senger pointed out that more than 80% of Australias production was exported. We area reliable supplier of these materials," he said.
Mr N Chisholm of Leighton group said that the group was exploring the possibility in contract mining, coal handling, coal washery and iron ore mining. "We have already spoken to few Indian companies. Leighton is open to both joint venture through equity participation or through lease agreement," he said.
According to him, the company was interested in constructing dedicated iron ore port in India.
Bharat Forge to set up unit in Bengal
Pune-based Bharat Forge, the world's second-largest forging company, which makes engine and chassis parts for passenger vehicles and buses and trucks is setting up its tenth worldwide unit at Durgapur in West Bengal.
The plant would be Bharat Forges 3rd facility in the country. The company will invest Rs 8 billion for this purpose.
Of the unit output, 60% would focus on the non-automotive segment. The plant is expected to boost exports to China and Southeast Asia.
At present, 17% of the Bharat Forges global revenues are contributed by the non-automotive business. The company targets incremental global revenue of close to Rs 10 billion.
Bharat Forge is also setting up a 5,000 acres special economic zone (SEZ) near Pune with an investment of Rs 250 billion, which would mainly supply to auto industry-based units.
The company plans to make complete engines and transmissions after 2010. As part of that strategy, Bharat Forge will set up a Rs 250 million technology unit in Pune.
Five in the fray for SAIL slag Joint Venture
Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has short-listed 5 cement companies for setting up a joint venture slag and clinker unit at Bokaro in Jharkhand. Grasim, ACC, Birla Corporation, Jaiprakash Associates and Shree Cements are the five companies.
The Bokaro unit will mix slag produced from steel plants with clinker for supply to cement units. SAIL operates a 3.78 million tonne steel plant at Bokaro.The process is on for setting up a joint venture that will use the blast furnace slag of the Bokaro Steel Plant. This will provide an assured offtake of solid waste material generated in the steel plants, apart from providing value addition,
SAIL chairman and managing director SK Roongta told SAIL is also in the process of forming a joint venture with Jaiprakash Associates for cement production in Bhilai. We have tied up for long-term buying of slag from the Bhilai Steel Plant for cement production. Which will produce 2.2 million tonnes of cement, said Roongta.Jaiprakash will hold a 74% equity in the Bhilai outfit, with the remaining 26% coming from SAIL. The total investment is expected to be in the range of Rs 650 crore. The Bhilai facility, near SAILs plant, will be a composite plant with two units. The plant will use a mix of limestone and clinker supplied from another unit to be set up at Satna in Madhya Pradesh.
The Satna unit will be a partial manufacturing facility that will use limestone from SAIL-operated mines in the vicinity. At present, SAIL sells slag produced at its steel plant to cement companies through medium-term contracts, though at times it is not able to sell the entire quantity. Apart from Jaypee Cement, Shree Cement and Birla Corporation of the MP Birla group take part in it.
EIL-Punj Llyod jointly bid for Libyan refinery revamp
Engineers India (EIL) and Punj Lloyd have made a $ 1.6 billion joint bid for the revamp of the Azzawiya Oil Refinery (AOR) in Libya owned by Libya`s state-run National Oil Corp.
Mr Mukesh Rohtagi, chairman & managing director of EIL, said that decision is expected within a few months.
The Libyan government plans to increase the capacity at the refinery currently processes 1,00,000 barrels per day to 122,800 barrels per day, work for which is expected to begin early next year.
Mr Rohtagi said EIL and Punj Lloyd would share a 50:50 partnership in the consortium and had bid for the engineering, procurement, construction and management contract.
They are supposed to operate the refinery for a period of 6-months after completion of the expansion to stabilize it, which will be then handed back to the Libyan company.
AOR, the second largest oil refinery in Libya, is considering the installation of a new residual fluidized catalytic cracker unit; Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) facilities and an additional sulfur treatment plant.
TATA Steel in power plant JV with TATA Power
TATA Steel Ltd. it has signed a joint venture agreement with TATA Power Co. Ltd. for captive power plants in three states.
The plants would be set up in Chattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand to support the expansion plans of TATA Steel, a statement said.
TATA Steel will hold 26% in the venture, with TATA Power holding the remainder.
Vizag Port set to remain number 1 in 2006-07 too
Although exports of iron ore from Visakhapatnam Port are shrinking, the Major Port handled 34.322 million tonnes of cargo from April 2005 till date, as against 33.842 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year, and may still retain its number 1 status among the Major Ports. Iron ore exports via Vizag Port have fallen by as much as 1.5 million tonnes so far this fiscal.
The Port is, nevertheless, making strenuous efforts to make up for the loss of iron ore by attracting other cargoes. Visakhapatnam has remained the Number One port in the country for the last six years in terms of cargo handled.
Nalco to reduce alumina exports
National Aluminium Co Ltd produced about 1.6 million tonnes of alumina in the year ended March 31, 2006, of which about 800,000 tonnes was exported and the remaining is used for aluminium production. Wants to gradually cut alumina exports and use its output to increase aluminium production, said its chairman.
Nalco's goal was to use about 1.4 million tonnes of alumina for aluminium production and export the remainder, adding this depended on the company raising its aluminium production capacity.
Under 5 years expansion plan which estimate to cost $3.25 billion.The company was looking at production facilities in Dubai, Indonesia or India, but nothing had been finalised, Mr Pradhan said."We should have been able to decide by the end of this (calendar) year. Now, we should be able to decide this now by March or April."
The Nalco chairman said.As part of that plan,National Aluminium was also examining a proposal to build a 1.5 million tonne aluminium smelter in India, in Andhra Pradesh state or Orissa.
National Sustainability Award for SSP
Salem Steel Plant has been awarded the 1st prize in the National Sustainability Awards of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), under Secondary Steel Alloy Steel Plants category for the year 2006.
Mr PM Balasubramanian, Executive Director, SSP, received the National Sustainability Award from Dr Akhilesh Das; Minister of State for Steel at a function in Jamshedpur on November 14.The plant has received the award for the 10th time in a span of 15 years since establishment of this award and for the 3rd time in succession. The award was earlier known as the National Quality Award. The Ferrous division of Indian Institute of Metals has been organizing this National Quality competition since 1991 to encourage and recognize the quality control aspects amongst the steel sector.
The Salem Chapter of the IIM has won the Best Chapter Award among medium chapters for its performance and membership enrolment, besides having minimum percentage of defaulters. The Award was received on November 14 at Jamshedpur by Mr J Ravindranath, Chairman, IIM, Salem Chapter and Dy General Manager (Marketing Exports), SSP, from Mr B Muthuraman, President of IIM and Managing Director, TATA Steel.
Chinese steel mills's price lift
Profit of Chinese companies accelerated further in October as a result of steelmakers increased prices. The profit growth has increased even after central bank raised interest rates twice till now in 2006 to pacify the investment boom threatening to leave China with idle factories.
Baoshan Iron and Steel reported a 42% increase in Q3 profit and net income rose to 4.7 billion yuan. Steel industry profits increased to 13% percent in the first 10 months after raising to 5.4% through September. Average prices of hot-rolled steel sheets rose 6.3% in the Q3.
Baosteel Group plans to double automotive steel sheet output
Baosteel Group plans to double automotive sheet production by 2010 to more than 5 million tonnes. The expected output this year is 2.6 million tonnes. Baosteel now claims more than 50% of the market for cold-rolled automotive sheet steel in China. The company also exports automotive sheet steel customers including Fiat, Ford of Europe and General Motors' North American assembly plants.
To maintain China's current share in auto making, Baosteel has been advised by industry experts to develop a wider portfolio of steel products, and it intends to improve its competitiveness in logistics, marketing and research and development.
POSCO Opens Its First Integrated Steel Mill in China
POSCO on 22nd November opened its first integrated steel mill located in Jiangsu Province in China. Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel is the first overseas-integrated steel mill built by a Korean steel maker. It is also the first integrated steel mill established in China by a foreigner. POSCO marked the completion of the 600,000 tonnes annual capacity steel mill with POSCO chairman Lee Ku-taek and Secretary of Suzhou Municipal Party Committee Wang Rong among others.
TopDamaged Vanderbijlpark Steel V1 caster of Mittal SA is back in operation
Mittal Steel South Africa informed that the V1 caster at its Vanderbijlpark plant was successfully brought back into operation on Sunday, 19 November after the caster was extensively damaged during a hydraulic fire in October.
The re-commissioning of the caster took place 26 days after the fire, 3 days ahead of the planned start-up date. The V2 caster was already back in operation 8 days after the fire incident, and has performed exceptionally well since then. Mr Tami Didiza, GM of Corporate Affairs, said Mittal Steel SA did everything within its power to ensure that the impact on its clients was kept to a minimum.
Vietnamese Steel mills facing heavy losses
Vietnamese steel producers facing heavy losses as a result of increase in Chinese ingot steel prices. Over the month of October the prices has surged to $420 per tonne, which is increase of $30 per tonne.
The steel in stocks is at low levels, which would take care of just one month production. The producers are finding it difficult to raise finished steel prices. On the other hand raw material prices are increasing causing mills to face heavy losses. If Vietnamese steelmakers raise their prices, they may have to compete with cheap Chinese steel rendering Vietnamese products unmarketable.
CVRD develops Pelletizing Project in Middle East
CVRD announced that it has signed a MoU with SIPC - Sohar Industrial Port Company, a joint venture between the Sultanate of Oman and the Port of Rotterdam, to evaluate the implementation of a new pelletizing plant to be located in the Port of Sohar.
The nominal capacity of the pelletizing plant is currently planned to reach 7.5 million tons per year of direct reduction pellets. The project is expected to commence operations in 2010 and CVRD will supply 100% of the iron ore used to feed the pelletizing plant. This initiative illustrates CVRD's strategy to support the Middle East steel industry, a traditional center in the development of Direct Reduction projects in the world, by expanding its regional pelletizing operations - a field where CVRD has a significant market and operational experience. This pelletizing plant will focus its supply on several recently announced Direct Reduction and steel projects in the Middle East, providing a reliable source of iron ore feed to these projects.
CVRD refuses to sell iron ore to producers that allow slave labor
CVRD said it would stop selling ore to pig iron companies suspected of using materials made by slaves in Brazil. In an interview, MR Tito Martins, Executive Director said that he would not sell iron ore to anyone who is accused of or suspected of using slave labor or violating environmental regulations and that he is not interested in supplying anyone who does not respect the law.
The local pig iron companies are dependent on CVRD and stopping supply of ore from CVRD means shut down for these companies said a Bloomberg report.
Puda Coal accomplishes key strategic goals
Puda Coal announced that it has accomplished key strategic goals in successfully growing its relationship with Xuanhua Steel Group. Puda began delivering to Xuanhua in Q2 of 2006. Through Q3 the Company had delivered approximately 98,000 tonnes of cleaned coking coal. Puda expects to deliver approximately 188,000 tonnes to Xuanhua on the year.
Xuanhua will then be Puda's second largest customer after Baotou Steel Group.
In establishing and growing this relationship, Puda accomplished the following two goals key to its future growth:
1 Form Strategic Relationships with Major Steel Groups - Xuanhua recently merged with Tangshan Steel Group. Post merger, the company is the 2nd largest raw steel producer in China.
2 Overcome Geographic Barriers to Market to a Broader, Larger Customer base - Puda's customers have typically been small and/or regional firms. Xuanhua is the Company's second geographically distant and nationally prominent customer.
Puda Chairman and CEO, Mr Zhao Ming said that by establishing and cultivating company's relationship with Xuanhua, they have gained potential inroad into a major industry influencer while extending Puda's reach to a much wider audience.
U.S. Steel signs collective agreement with employees
U.S. Steel and its sister companies has signed an agreement which will last three years and include all regulations regarding income, employee transportation, hot meals and other rights of those who are full-time employees of the company. The agreement confirms the price of work for the next three years, which includes the increase of living expenses for all three years and additional, realistic price rises, according to a statement.
TopSteel Dynamics Suspends Participation in Mesabi Nugget Project at Hoyt Lake
Steel Dynamics Inc today announced in a press release that it has decided to discontinue the participation of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ferrous Resources LLC, in the development and construction of a commercial iron nugget plant at Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. This four year old "Mesabi Nugget" joint venture project with four other participants Iron Units LLC Cleveland Cliffs, Kobe Iron Nugget LLC Kobe Steel, Ferrometrics, Inc. and Iron Range Resources, an agency of the State of Minnesota built and operated a pilot plant at Silver Bay, Minnesota to validate Kobe's ITmk3 iron nugget technology and has been involved in negotiations over the past several years to build a large scale demonstration plant as the next phase in the commercialization of the technology.
In announcing its decision to suspend its current financial involvement and participation in the project, Mr Mark Millett, Steel Dynamics' Vice President, stated, "While we are pleased that our efforts and those of the other participants in this project to date have established the merits of the iron nugget technology and have confirmed that a large scale demonstration plant could be constructed to produce commercial quality iron nuggets in sufficient quantity; we and our joint venture partners have simply not been able to conclude definitive agreements to fully address all of the many operating and financial issues that require resolution prior to our further commitment of time and resources to the project. We will continue to explore opportunities to use Kobe's ITmk3 process in another project as and when circumstances change."
Ajaokuta Steel Company earns over $6.1 million on export
Ajaokuta Steel Company, has earned over $6.1 million on the export of its steel products to West African countries in 2006 till now. The company exported wire coils and re-bars to Ghana, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Liberia.
Mr Ayo Abatan, A board member informed that the company exported 3,333 tonnes of wire coils to Ghana and Togo between March and May of 2006, earning over $1.6 million as revenue.
Ajaokuta Steel Company is a federal government of Nigeria owned company set up by the promulgation of the Nigerian Steel Council.
