NMDC orders complete Steel plant from Siemens

MUMBAI (Commodity Online): A consortium led by Siemens VAI Metals Technologies at Linz, Austria, has received an order from India's National Mineral Development Corporation Limited for the supply of a complete LD (BOF) steelmaking plant.

Hot metal will be produced in a blast furnace. Subsequently, the hot metal will be processed to liquid steel in the steel plant. The liquid steel will then be cast in a thin slab caster and in line hot-strip mill to process a wide range of hot rolled coil and sheets, including high-strength-low- carbon steels, pipeline grades(API) and steel grades for the automotive industry.

Siemens will be in charge of the design and the "turnkey" supply of the steel plant, including two LD (BOF) converters, two 175-ton desulfurization plants (HMDS), two ladle furnaces (LF), and a RH degassing plant. The "turnkey" project scope of supply also includes the material handling systems, the primary and secondary dedusting systems, a gas recovery plant and a water treatment plant.

The steel works will be built at Nagarnar in the state of Chhattisgarh as part of an integrated production complex with an annual capacity of approximately three million tons. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-2015. NMDC had already ordered a sintering plant from Siemens for the Nagarnar project site.

NMDC is India's largest manufacturer and exporter of iron ore. The state-owned company mines approximately 30 million tons of ore each year at locations throughout India. The order volume for the consortium amounts to approximately 290 million Euros.