Lloyd Metals is eyeing a forward integration from iron ore to steel, Rajesh Gupta, Managing Director of the company, said on Wednesday. The company is currently working on two different locations: Chandrapur, the original location of the company and Gadchiroli, where the mine is situated.
In conversation with CNBC-TV18’s Managing Editor Shereen Bhan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Gupta pointed out that the company envisages steel production of 4.2 million tonnes from the two locations by 2027–28. Talking about the company’s plans, Gupta said, “We are doing a pipeline from the mine to the Gadchiroli as well as the Chandrapur plant, so that makes it greener as well as a cost-efficient scenario over the long term, which would make it India’s one of the longest pipelines.”
The cost of the projects is valued at about ₹33,000 crore, as the company signed an MoU with the Maharashtra government on Wednesday. Gupta revealed that most of the approvals and formalities for the land have been completed.
“The original mine was 3 million tonnes. Last year we got approval for 10 million tonnes, so this fiscal we will complete 10 million tonnes. We are also looking at a beneficiation plant to upgrade our BHQ (Banded hematite quartzite) for the first time in India and with that the syllable product would be 25 million tonnes over 4-5 years,” Gupta added.
He also said that the reserve capacity of the plants is around 800 million tonnes including the BHQs.
