Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), the steel company co-promoted by MMTC Ltd and two Odisha government controlled entities, has churned out 0.72 million tonnes of hot metal in this fiscal (as on March 11), its best ever production figure since inception.
NINL with its steel plant located at Kalinganagar (Odisha), home to a cluster of steel projects owned by Tatas, Jindals and others, edged past its previous best output of 0.71 million tonnes in 2009-10.
S S Mohanty, vice chairman & managing director, NINL, said, “The hot metal production will improve further. We have also plans to adopt Coal Dust Injection technology at the blast furnace which will improve techno-economic parameters and productivity. Operations of the captive mines is also expected early next fiscal which will be a game changer for the company.”
NINL operates 1.1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) integrated steel plant at Kalinganagar. The plant went through a major blast furnace overhaul beginning late November 2017 and resumed operations in May 2018.
The steel PSU has also registered record production of liquid steel (23652 tonnes) and steel billets (21640 tonnes) in February, the best ever monthly figures. In the aftermath of blast furnace capital repair work, NINL has been scaling new highs in production. The steel unit recommenced billets production in December last year. It has also forayed into production of special grade billets which have applications in electrical power transmission towers growing at a frenetic pace in the country. NINL also plans to market its own brand of TMT, wire rods and structures through conversion agents.