Minister inaugurates Silica Reduction Plant at Bhilai Steel Plant’s Dalli Mines
After a long gap, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has started working on the implementation of its biggest ever capital expansion plan of about Rs.1.1 lakh crore, out of which about Rs.11000 crore will be spent on augmenting existing facilities (brownfield) and about Rs.1 lakh crore will be spent on green field expansion.
“Apart from this, ancillary facilities like Oxygen Plant, Pellet Plant, Ore Beneficiation units will also be set up on BOO (Built Operate Own)/COM (Construct Operate Maintain) model,” Steel Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said on 23 Jun 2023.
“Mines as well as upstream and downstream ancillaries will also be mechanized and modernized with the latest technology as part of this proposed expansion plan of SAIL,” he said while virtually inaugurating the Silica Reduction Plant at SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant’s Dalli Mines, from New Delhi.
SAIL has drawn up its expansion plan to increase capacity to 35.24 million tonnes in the coming 7-9 years from the current 19.5 MT.
The Minister said that the investment made in the steel sector has an employment multiplier effect of 6.8 times and output multiplier effect of 1.4 times which will lead to the creation of jobs and businesses in these sectors, thereby playing a leading role in the overall development of the country.
Scindia said that the already installed CSW (Crushing, Screening and Washing) is not very effective for beneficiation of currently produced low grade iron ore and therefore after a research and pilot project study, it was decided to upgrade the plant with latest technology at a cost of about Rs.148.82 crore.
“This will ensure that the low-grade iron ore which has 55-59% ferrous content, will now be beneficiated and its ferrous content would increase to 62-64%, suitable for sinter plant, thereby enhancing the quality of iron ore fines by 3% and reducing the silica content by 2%.” Fiinews.com
