March, 04 2007
TATA Steel - Corus merger likely by April
Corus will be delisted from the stock exchanges and become a 100% subsidiary of TATA Steel in April 2007 after its shareholders approve TATA Steels takeover proposal at an Extraordinary General Meeting on March 7th 2007. The deal would also come up for approval by TATA Steel shareholders at a meeting next week.
Mr Ratan Tata chairman of TATA Steel said "Once the shareholders approve the proposal, Corus will be delisted from stock exchanges and would function as a subsidiary of TATA Steel from April.
Mr Ratan Tata added that "An integration committee will be set up to oversee the merger of Tata Steel and Corus. The committee would ensure growth of both the companies and the welfare of employees." The committee would comprise representatives from both companies.
Mr B Muthuraman MD of TATA Steel said the financial structure for the funding of Corus acquisition would be finalized within a few weeks and that they would announce the strategy for funding this acquisition.
HEG to sell loss making billet unit in MP
Reuter reported that graphite electrode maker HEG Ltd is looking to make an exit from its loss making steel billets unit in central India which the company began in 2005. Mr Ravi Jhunjhunwala CMD of HEG told Reuters that "We are in talks with various companies who would be interested in purchasing an integrated steel plant and if the price is good, we will sell."
Mr Jhunjhunwala said "You know how the steel sector is, it is highly uncertain and there are problems in the sourcing of raw material. So, sometimes we make losses and sometimes manage to break even, but it is certainly not on our radar. It makes sense for anyone who is in the steel business to buy it and would take anyone at least 2 to 3 years to build that kind of capacity."
As per report, HEGs steel business incurred a net loss of INR 27.2 million in October to December 2006 as it was pulled down by the 100,000 tonnes a year billets unit. It steel division, contributing a fifth of HEG's revenue, also includes a sponge iron unit that has served as a cheap source of power generation.
Stoppage of e auction to hit CIL bottom line
Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries, which stopped sale of coal through e auction after an interim order from the Supreme Court, have resorted to scheme of e bookings instead on a first come first serve basis at a fixed price.
It is reported that connectivity and bandwidth problems are been faced by coal consumers for e booking. Mr Jha director of CIL said that "All consumers want to place their order for e booking of their requirements at the same time. We are getting complaints of non ability to complete the booking."
The realization by CIL from e booking is less compared to the previous e auction. Mr Jha said that "During e auction we use to get even 150% of the notified price but now it is a fixed price of 130% of the notified price." The loss to CIL in the three months of the current fiscal due to change in sale policy is estimated to be between INR 50 crore to INR 60 crore.
Mr Jha hoped that by March first week the coal sale policy will be finalized by the committee headed by Mr HC Gupta the union coal secretary.
Indian Railway to increase production of rolling stock
As per a release, Indian ministry of railways has taken the following measures to meet the increase in demand of rolling stocks and components:
1. Works have been approved to increase production capacities in locomotives and coach building production units at Diesel Locomotive Works, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, Integral Coach Factory and Rail Coach Factory.
2. A new wheel manufacturing unit is being set up for manufacture of 100,000 wheels per year.
3. Approvals have been taken to set up a new Coach Factory for manufacture of 1,000 coaches per year and a Diesel Locomotive Factory to manufacture 150 locomotives per year.
The production program for acquisition of locomotives and coaches for 2007-08 and 2008-09, which are based on the requirements of projected traffic, are as under:
| Rolling stocks | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
| Diesel Locomotives | 200 | 250 |
| Electric Locomotives | 200 | 250 |
| Coaches | 3,481 | 3,707 |
IIL inspect land options in Jharkhand
The Telegraph reported that senior officials of Ispat Industries Limited inspected 2,700 acres of land at Manoharpur, 5,000 acres at Govindpur and 2,700 acres at Khunti, as offered by the Jharkhand government for setting up its proposed steel plant in the state last week. As per reports the IIL team has shown its inclination for the site at Govindpur due to its proximity to the railway station and to the Karo River.
Mr Kumar president of the IIL while speaking to The Telegraph said that the project is in its preliminary stages and they did not want to waste any time though technical teams would finally decide on the plot, they would shortlist the probable sites. He added that We are discussing the matter with the government and have already complied with all the parameters as mentioned in the MoU. We have applied for the land before the department concerned and the land acquisition authorities will have to help us in this regard. We will ensure that those who would be displaced get a fair deal for their land.
IIL had signed a MoU with the Jharkhand government for setting up a steel factory in the state.
NTPC & ADB in talks for strategic partnership
National Thermal Power Corporation announced recently that it is in talks with Asian Development Bank to enter into partnerships with executors of coal mining projects being financed by the ADB.
Mr Chandan Roy director of NTPC said that NTPC is in talks with ADB for entering into partnerships with executors of coal mining projects being financed by it. He said ADB has offered us the option of forming either a joint venture with the promoters of such projects being financed by them.
He said that these are coal blocks where mining has recently been started or will be started soon but added that the details are yet to be worked out and the projects have not been identified yet.
Simhadri power plant to have adverse effect
It is reported that the delegation of the Nagarjuna Virodhi Samithi, which went recently on a study tour to the Simhadri Thermal Power Plant in Andhra Pradesh, has concluded that the plant would have adverse effects on agricultural production marine life and human health in the area.
Mr Upendra Hosabettu Secretary of the Samithi told media that the Samithi had submitted a report on the study tour to the government. He informed that The Samithi has concluded that the impact of the proposed Nagarjuna Thermal Power Project at Yellur in Udupi district was likely to be greater than that of the Simhadri plant. As the proposed site of the Nagarjuna plant was surrounded by hills of the Western Ghats on three sides, dispersion of pollutants would be impeded.
He added that This was compounded by the fact that the area had low wind speeds and long wind calms, according to various studies and the area had lateritic soil and rock of high permeability that was acidic in nature. Leaching from ash ponds would result in contamination of groundwater with heavy metals.
Steel Strips Wheels sales up by 22% YoY in 11 months
Steel Strips Wheels Ltd has informed that it has recorded a growth of 22 % approximately in sale and production of Steel Wheel Rims for the period April 2006 to February 28th 2007 in comparison to production and sales of wheel rims of the corresponding period of the previous year.
| Apr-Feb'06 | Apr-Feb'07 | Change | |
| Production | 3.313 | 4.045 | 22.1% |
| Sales | 3.323 | 4.048 | 21.8% |
Mining outsourcing under service tax net
Mr P Chidambaram Indias finance minister, while presenting the General Budget 2007-08, has proposed to raise the service tax exemption limit for small service providers from INR 400,000 to INR 800,000 at an estimated revenue loss of about INR 800 crore.
Mr Chidambaram also proposed to extend the service tax to services outsourced for mining of mineral, oil & gas, renting of immovable property for use in commerce or business, development and supply of content for use in telecom & advertising purposes, asset management services provided by individuals and design services. He has also proposed to levy service tax on services involved in the execution of a works contract.
However, no service tax will be levied on all services provided by technology business incubators whose annual business turnover does not exceed INR 5 million, for the first three years.
ThyssenKrupp reaffirms its medium & long term sales targets
ThyssenKrupp has reaffirmed that it will achieve its mid and long term targets despite the short term risk of possible oversupply in the steel market.
Mr Karl-Ulrich Koehler board member of ThyssenKrupp told journalists in Duesseldorf last week that the raw materials market remains very tight and that even the highest cost mines were currently able to turn a profit. He said Operating even the most expensive mine makes sense.
ThyssenKrupp current targets call for it to achieve sales of EUR 50 billion in the first phase of its mid term growth and want to achieve sales of EUR 55 to EUR 60 billion within the next five years.
Ukraines January to February coal output dips by 2.5% YoY
Ukraines coal ministry told that Ukraines coal production is reduced by 2.5% YoY during January to February 2007 to 12.668 million tonnes. It added that coking coal production fell by 5.5% YoY to 4.634 million tonnes and steam coal fell by 0.7% YoY to 8.034 million tonnes.
Ukraine raised coal production by 2.8% YoY in 2006 to 80.257 million tonnes while its coking coal production fell by 8.2%YoY to 30.145 million tonnes and steam coal output increased by 10.9% YoY to 50.112 million tonnes.
Norilsk Nickel completes OM Group buyout
GMK Norilsk Nickel has announced it completed the deal to buy out nickel assets of the US OM Group. The deal value was USD 408 million with the companys debt not taken into account. The payback period is estimated at around a year.
The assets bought out by Norilsk Nickel include the nickel refining plant in Finland, Cawse ore leaching division in western Australia, 20% in MPI Nickel Pty Ltd which is developing Black Swan and Silver Swan mines and implementing the Honeymoon Well project and 11.1% in Talvivaaran Kaivososakeyhtio a heap bioleaching project in Kainuu of Finland as common stocks and convertible bonds.
As a result of it, the nickel refining capacity of Norilsk Nickel is expected to step up by 60,000 tons a year, and the own nickel output of the company except tolling processing will annually soar roughly by 35,000 tons to 40,000 tons.
GMK Norilsk Nickel is the biggest nickel producer, accounting for 96% of the nickel output in Russia. It also covers 55% of copper output and 95% of cobalt production of the country.
Chinas coal mine accidents kill 6 per day in January to February
Chinas State Administration of Work Safety announced on weekend that coal mine accidents killed 357 in the January to February period down by 9.8% YoY but it still works out to 6 people getting killed everyday.
Mr Li Yizhong head of the administration said We did a good job in the first two months, but there remains a lot of problems. Several illegal coal mines that have been told to be shut down are still in operation now. Some officials are afraid of difficulties in the battle against illegal coal mines." Mr Li said that a total of 2,723 coal mines must be closed in the Q1.
Nickel alloys in the power plants of the future
ThyssenKrupp VDM is reported to be developing a series of new materials to be used in power plant construction to raise the efficiency of power plants required to meet the significant increase in demand for electrical energy. Dr Jutta Klower head of marketing at ThyssenKrupp VDM at a ThyssenKrupp Stainless trade press workshop in Essen said that Whatever the power plant of the future looks like, nickel alloys will play a role in it.
ThyssenKrupp VDM is involved in the German economics ministry funded CO2 Reduction Technologies project COORETEC, is also looking into the design of zero emission power plants and is investigating ways to raise the efficiency of coal based power plants by increasing the boiler temperature to 700 degrees Celsius.
ThyssenKrupp VDM, together with partners, has developed a special corrosion resistant nickel alloy to be used in the heat displacement systems of flue gas desulfurizers to utilize the residual heat of the flue gas. Another new development currently being tested in field trials is nickel alloys which can withstand extreme corrosion attack from sulfur- and chloride containing gases such as are encountered in waste incinerator boilers and in power plants fired with waste, wood or heavy oil.
ThyssenKrupp VDM is also active in the gas area. Together with partners it is involved in the development of safe material concepts for transporting liquefied gas. Nickel alloys are used here too, traditionally in liquefied gas tankers and in future also in pipelines.
Cleveland-Cliff opens office in Rio de Janeiro
Cleveland Cliffs Inc announced that it has opened a new regional office, Cliffs International Mineracao Brasil Ltda at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to identify and assess business opportunities and to provide technical and administrative support for Cliffs' ventures in Latin America.
Mr Joseph A Carrabba President & CEO of Cleveland Cliffs said that "This new office will serve Cliffs' interests in the Latin American market, including support of the contemplated 30 percent ownership position in Brazilian iron ore project Amapa. We look forward to developing new business opportunities in the region, with a primary focus on Brazil. We are developing strategic relationships with local partners whereby our company can add value to mining projects through our extensive mining and processing expertise."
Mr Carrabba added that Cliffs' longer term goals in the region include potential development of other metallic opportunities, such as pellets and reduced iron products.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America and sells the majority of its pellets to integrated steel companies in the United States and Canada. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc operates a total of six iron ore mines located in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada. The Company is majority owner of Portman Limited, an iron ore mining company in Australia, serving the Asian iron ore markets with direct-shipping fines and lump ore.
Arcelor Brasil launches 2nd BF at Juiz de Fora mini mill
BNamericas reported that Arcelor Brasil has started operations at the second blast furnace at its Juiz de Fora mini mill in Minas Gerais state of Brazil. As per report, investment in the project to install the two 180,000 tonnes per year blast furnaces totaled BRL 120 million (USD 57 million) and the first furnace kicked off production earlier 2007.
A company spokesperson told BNamericas that "The furnaces are due to reach their 360,000 tonnes per year capacity in April."
As a result the Juiz de Fora mini mill, capable of producing 1 million tonnes per year of long steel, will reduce its dependency on scrap and on pig iron from other suppliers.
Arcelor Brasil, the South American subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal and comprises of CST, Vega do Sul and Belgo Mineira which also controls Argentine steel producer Acindar.
One contract worker killed in freak accident at AK Steel
It is reported that a man working for a contractor RMB Enterprises of Fostoria of Ohio at AK Steel Corp's Middletown Works was killed and another man was injured while the two were changing a tire on a semi truck on Saturday morning.
According to fire officials and an RMB general manager, the men were changing a tire on a semi truck inside the plant when the tire separated from the rim and exploded. The tires are heavy duty and intended for transport of the 45,000 pound steel coils.
RMB transports steel coils from place to place inside Middletown Works and its employees are charged with doing routine maintenance on trucks that transport the coils.
UGINE & ALZ to modernize its 4 high CR mill
Specialty steelmaker UGINE & ALZ Belgium NV has ordered SMS Demag to supply the essential components for modernization and re erecting its 1988 supplied CVC 4 high reversing cold mill at Genk.
The mill stand, equipped with CVC technology, HS shifting system and work roll bending, is adapted to the requirements of specialty steel production. As a special feature, it includes a modified system for the rapid changing of the work rolls.
The plant is to be completed by the necessary coil conveying equipment and new entry and exit sections for the mill stand. These new plant components serve to increase the rolling capacity of the stand, to reduce the non productive times required for coil loading and discharging and, consequently, to optimize the productivity of the overall plant. The stand has a maximum rolling force of 22 MN at a rolling speed of max. 800 meter per minute. The motive power of the electrical main drives represents a total capacity of 13,000 KW.
The reversing mill is designed for the rolling of hot strip with maximum incoming gages of up to 5 mm. The cold rolled finished product will have final gages of 0.6 to 3 mm and strip widths of 800mm to 1,600 mm. The plant will be used for producing cold rolled specialty steel of the grade AISI 300 with a good surface quality.
Mittal Steel Burns Harbor BF accident injures one
AP reported that a steel worker suffered burns over 60% of his body when he fell from a backhoe that had been sprayed by molten metal at a blast furnace at Mittal Steel Burns Harbor in US. He was airlifted to the University Of Chicago Hospitals, where he was in critical condition and had burns to his hands, chest and legs.
Accounts of the accident differ between Mittal Steel and union officials.
Mr Paul Gipson president of United Steelworkers Local 6787 said that Mr Dave Ranus was sitting in the backhoe when a hole between the furnace and the trough plugged, and then sprayed molten metal onto the backhoe and that the metal shattered the backhoe cab's triple pane glass.
Mr David Allen a spokesman of Mittal Steel said that Mr Ranus was burned when the backhoe touched a trough that carries molten residue away from the blast furnace and a fire started on the backhoe.
JFE develops new titanium alloy for golf clubs
JFE Steel Corporation has announced the development of SP 700HM, a new kind of titanium alloy that conforms to Spring Like Effect rules for golf clubs.
As per report this new material golf clubs will have thinner faces, suppressed COR coefficient of restitution and have a lower and deeper center of gravity.
Banpu forecasts 7% increase in sales in 2007 due to higher coal prices
Thai Banpu Plc has forecast that its total sales in 2007 will grow by between 7% and 10% from THB 33.37 billion in 2006 mainly due to rising prices of coal.
Mr Chanin Vongkusolkit CEO of Banpu Plc said that its current selling price has reached USD 52.60 per tonne on average, up from USD 37.05 in the last quarter of 2006, fuelled by a sharp increase in demand in India and China, as well as the higher quality of output this year. He said that ''We project the coal prices would stay high as long as the economies of India and China remain strong.''
Banpu has projected its average selling price of coal this year to be at least USD 37 per tonne as compared to USD 35.8 per tonne of last year. Of the company's total estimated coal output of 21 million tonnes this year, 75% has been contractually sold at the price of USD 37 per tonne.
Chains 2006 coal output growth highest in Inner Mongolia
According to a statistics released by China Coal Trade & Development Association, Inner Mongolia witnessed coal output growth of 55.75 million tons in 2006 ranking first, followed by Shanxi Province with 52.54 million tons. But in terms of output, Shanxi was still well ahead of other regions, leaving its nearest follower Inner Mongolia with over 200 million tons gap.
Henan Province's coal output hit 185 million tons, standing third. Outputs of the three largest producers amounted to 974 million tons, almost half of the country' total. Other provinces whose output broke 100 million tons include Henan and Shandong with 154 million tonne and 120 million tons.
In the meanwhile, Hebei, Zhejiang, Guangxi and Beijing reported declined outputs. Coal output in Beijing dropped 2.01 million tons.
China's total coal output recorded 2.06 billion tons last year, up by 219 million tons or 11.9% from that in 2005.
(Sourced from Mysteel.net)
China Shipping ties up with Shenhua Group
China Shipping Development Co Ltd announced that its controlling shareholder, China Shipping Group has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement in February 28th 2007 with Shenhua Group.
The two partiers agreed to enlarge hauling capacity of New Century Shipping Ltd in various ways including shipbuilding and ship purchasing to push its hauling capacity to 1 million deadweight tons before 2010 and make it the main carrier of coal that Shenhua Group's power plants in coastal regions need. Shipbuilding or ship purchasing will be operated quickly to raise hauling capacity by 350,000 deadweight tons to meet the transport demand.
By mutual consent, China Shipping will support the expanding of Shenhua Group's coal sales and market shares at home and abroad. The two consented to cooperate in many aspects such as reducing overstock at harbors, improving harbors efficiency and raising ship turnover rate.
New Century Shipping Ltd is a JV funded equally by China Shipping Development Co. Ltd and China Shenhua Energy Company Limited.
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Zhuhai New Century is scheduled to attain shipping capacity of one million dead-weight tons by 2010 by building and purchasing new vessels, the company said in the statement.
(Sourced from MySteel.net)
Romportmets 2006 profit up by 5.6% YoY
Arcelor Mittals Galati based port venture Romportmet announced that net profit of RON 35.802 million up by 5.6% YoY as compared to RON 33.9 million in 2005.
Romportmets turnover IN 2006 WAS RON 63.912 million up by 9.2% YoY as compared to RON 58.5 in 2005.
The majority shareholder in Romportmet is Mittal Steel Holding, with a stake of 83.27% in the company, while Sidex Trading holds 11.5%.
LionOre registers 16.3% increase in 2006 nickel production
Canadian nickel producer LionOre Mining International reported that its attributable nickel production of 30,604 tonne in 2006 has increased by 16.3% YoY as compared to 26,321 tonne in 2005 and by 75.5% over 17,435 tonne in 2004. Group production including minority stakes but not the 50% of the Nkomati mine in South Africa held by ARM came in at just over 34,000 tonne payable nickel.
Guidance for group production in 2007 is of 44,000 tonne including minority stakes with LionOres own attributable production is forecast to be 39,795 tonne. The companys medium-term target is to raise group production to 80,000 tonne per year by 2012.
The new Waterloo mine in Australia will be a driver of that increase, with production forecast to lift to 2,400 tonne in 2007 from 1,077 tonne last year. Lake Johnston operations in Western Australia are forecast to lift production to 13,500 tonne from 9,737 tonne last year while the nearby Black Swan operations will lift production to 11,500 tonne from 7,190 tonne and Tati Nickel operations in Botswana are forecast to lift production to 14,700 tonne from 13,677 tonne while LionOres share of output from Nkomati is expected to be unchanged YoY at 2,400 tonne.
Mogilevs January pipe output up by 12.3% YoY
Interfax has reported that Mogilev Metallurgical Plant increased production of steel pipes by 12.3% YoY in January 2007 to 9,358 tonnes. In value terms, the plant increased commercial production by 9.5% YoY to RUB 17.3 billion in January operating margin dropped to 8.5% from 8.7%,
The plant produced 117,132 tonnes of steel pipes in 2006 up by 23.2% YoY. Production was also up 20.9% to 3.136 tonnes of cast iron and 19.7% to 5,695 tonnes of iron split shot but down 4.7% to 6,329 tonnes of cast iron shot.
The Mogilev plant produces electric resistant welded straight seam water and gas pipeline pipes, shaped pipes and industrial iron shot.
Breakwater to lift zinc production to 121,000 in 2007
Canadian producer Breakwater Resources announced that it is targeting group mined zinc production of 121,700 tonnes in 2007 as compared with production of 107,136 tonnes in 2006.
Breakwater said the key driver will be the new Langlois mine in Quebec, which is expected to reach commercial production by the middle of the year and which will contribute a forecast 28,300 tonnes to group output. Production at the Myra Falls mine in British Columbia will continue to be constrained by the lack of available ore faces and underground haulage distances.
Breakwater said that those problems, together with mine ventilation issues and a 10 day suspension of operations due to a storm in Q4 2006 cut production at Myra Falls to 33,700 tonnes in 2006 from 48,100 tonnes in 2005. Production guidance for 2007 is for a modest improvement to 38,100 tonnes.
Hubei to push for higher mineral exploration in 2007
Hubei Province said it will encourage private and foreign investment into local mineral resources development and released guidelines on strengthening geological surveys and mineral exploration administration on February 25th 2007.
The guidelines stated that the government will push for the development of lead, zinc & manganese in western and southwestern Hubei, iron, copper and gold in the Southeast as well as gold silver and vanadium in the Northwest in 2007.
The guidelines do not specify detailed requirements for private and foreign companies to increase mineral resource reserves
The Hubei government has decided to assign RMB 30 million (USD 3.87 million) for a geological reconnoiter this year and income from exploration and mining licenses and tax payment will be used to expand future mineral resource prospecting.
Godo Steel announces appointment of new president
Godo Steel Ltd announced that it has appointed Mr Katsutoshi Kurikawa as president of the company, subject to the approval of the shareholders' meeting in June 2007. Mr Kurikawa replaces Mr Kenji Inokuma, who will serve as its advisor.
Godo Steel Ltd, headquartered at Osaka in Japan, is a steel manufacturer. The Company mainly produces steel sheets, wires, various large and medium sized section steel, rail, steel bars for structural use and bars for reinforcing rods that are for construction use.
