RSP defends selling slag at low cost

ROURKELA: After a lull, the management of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has landed in  a controversy again for its decision to sale Blast Furnace (BF) granulated slag through road at lower price against much higher price fetched earlier through rail transportation.

Sources said during November end, the Marketing department of RSP, through tender process, sold 1,93,800 tonnes of slag with about half a dozen buyers quoting prices between Rs 520 and Rs 750 per tonne for 15 lots. If the average price is taken at Rs 650 per tonne for road sale, then the RSP stands to suffer a loss of nearly Rs 7.72 crore for 1.93 lakh tonnes when compared with the previous average price of Rs 1,050 per tonne through rail sale.

It is learnt that before April this year, BF granulated slag of RSP was sold directly through fixed prices with average price of Rs 325 per tonne in road sale and Rs 275 per tonne in rail sale.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh Lok Sabha member Jual Oram, in a strongly worded letter to his counterpart Choudhury Birendra

Singh in the Steel and Mines Ministry on March 24, had claimed irregularities in sale of BF granulated slag sale. Subsequently, the RSP on April 29 had opted for e-auction for sale of about 3.24 lakh tonnes and different cement manufacturers quoted whopping prices between Rs 1,065 and Rs 1,105.

Sources claimed a local cement manufacturer, which was earlier buying BF granulated slag for Rs 325 per tonne, had in the e-auction in April surprisingly bought multiple lots for Rs 1,065 to Rs 1,105 per tonne. This time the same cement manufacturer has secured three lots for Rs 645 to Rs 725, while another cement producer bought two lots for Rs 510 and Rs 545 per tonne.

Management sources said auctions conducted between April and November had ensured price differences of Rs 300 following the new system of transportation. They said major buyers of BF granulated slag are from Nepal and Fatuha (Patna) in Bihar, adding that both destinations face heavy rail congestion. They said about 1.10 lakh tonnes are produced in a month and at least 30 rakes are required to clear it. They said RSP’s top management has been taking up the issue with the highest authorities of Railways, yet only 8 to 9 rakes are available per month, adding that under the circumstances, RSP is unable to achieve 100 per cent despatch of slag by rail.

Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh general secreatary HS Bal said it is important to reduce the accumulation of slag to avoid disruption in production at the BF area.

BFs record best single day production

Rourkela: The Blast Furnace (BF)-4 and BF-5 of the RSP have registered highest ever single day hot metal production with 11,243 tonnes on Tuesday. The previous best single day hot metal production of 11,087 tonnes was recorded on April 2. An RSP statement attributed the achievement to a host of interventions towards process improvement and management.

The BFs receive raw material from Ore Bedding and Blending Plant (OBBP), coke from Coke Ovens and sinter from Sinter Plants (SPs).  All the three units performed consistently leading to improved BF operations. The statement said under the guidance of RSP CEO Ashwini Kumar, all bottlenecks were removed. In the OBBP, the base mix preparation was modified leading to better input materials to Sinter Plants and then BFs.

In the Coke Ovens, optimisation in the coal blend in the Batteries also led to production of quality coke at a lower cost. The Sinter Plant-2 and 3 also significantly improved their operational efficiencies and ended up with better techno-economic parameters. Moreover, improvement in operation and maintenance of the Stock House, increased usage of pulverised coal injection in the BFs also helped lowering cost of production of hot metal, it added.