DY PM TO LAY FOUNDATION STONE OF NMDC ROMELT STEEL PLANT AT NAGARNAR TOMORROW

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The Deputy Prime Minister of India Shri Lal Krishna Advani will lay the foundation stone of the Russian Romelt technology-based steel plant at Nagarnar in Bastar district of Chhatisgarh. Union Minister of Steel Shri Braja Kishore Tripathy will preside over the function. Shri Ajit Jogi, Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh will be the chief guest. The Union Minister of Mines Shri Ramesh Bais, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Shri Dilip Singh Judev, ministers from Chhatisgarh state, MPs and MLAs and senior officials of the Steel Ministry and the State Government will attend the function.

The Rs. 300 crore state-of-the-art project is another innovative effort of the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) in eco-friendly mining. The unique Romelt technology developed by Mosco Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISA), Russia will be used for the first time in the world to extract iron from iron ore slimes, which till today had no commercial value. With the plant this backward area of Bastar district will soon appear on the industrial map of India.

It is planned to produce 3 lakh tonnes of pig iron per annum in the first phase and 15 lakh tonnes per annum in the final phase by adding two more modules of 6 lakh tones each. the by-products are granulated slag of 1.95 lakh tonnes per annum and 9.75 lakh tonnes per annum in the first and the final phase respctively and steam which shall be utilized for generation of 50 MW and 250 MW power in the first phase and the final phase respectively.

The requirements of major raw materials per annum, in the first phase are 5.70 lakh tonnes of iron ore slims, 3.78 lakh tonnes of non-coking coal, and 0.82 lakh tonnes of lime respecively. The requirement of water would be 1,000 Cu.m/hr. in the first phase.

NMDC Iron & Steel Plant (NISP), Nagarnar is 16 km. from Jagdalpur town on NH-43. For this purpose, 403 hectares of land has been acquired consisting of 288.99 hectares of private land and 114.01 hectares of Government land.

The romelt technology involves single stage smelting reduction process by which reduction of iron oxide is carried out with carbon in a single stage molten slag reactor. The process adopted is environment-friendly. The furnace operates at slightly below atmospheric pressure, thereby ensuring dust and hazardous gas free atmosphere. Environment control equipments like cyclone deduster and electro static precipitator are being provided to keep the environment pollution free. No solid or liquid waste effluent is being discharged outside the plant premises for ensuring pollution free surroundings.