India's minister of state for steel Dr. Akhilesh Das has announced that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is installing new steel melting facilities with an annual production capacity of 180,000 mt at Salem Steel Plant to make it into an integrated plant
Dr. Akhilesh said that initially Salem Steel Plant, a producer of international quality stainless steel located in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, will use scrap as the material for steelmaking and that in the future Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) will also be considered as a substitute for scrap. For this project, SAIL has already applied to the Tamil Nadu authorities for the lease of the Kanjamalai iron ore reserve.
The expansion plan envisages annual production of 340,000 mt of saleable steel, up from the current annual level of 180,000 mt.