The Indian government will direct state-owned iron ore miner NMDC Limited to build a 6 million mt per year steel mill in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, an official at India’s Ministry of Steel said on Friday, June 17.
The ministry official said that the proposed steel mill will be set up through the joint venture route and NMDC will be free to explore collaborations with domestic or foreign steel companies to implement the project.
The official said that the project followed a meeting last week between the state government of Jharkhand and India’s steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar, at which the latter assured the local government that the Ministry of Steel will extend all cooperation in “making Jharkhand the steel hub of the country”.
Although it could not be officially confirmed, sources said that NMDC could also explore the possibility of a joint venture with global mining giant Vedanta which had already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jharkhand government for the establishment of a 1 million mt steel mill in the region.
NMDC is already building a 3 million mt per year steel mill in the neighboring state of Chhattisgarh, entailing an investment of $2.23 billion and scheduled for completion in mid-2017.