SAIL plans to augment its hot metal production to 26.13 million tonne (MT) by 2010 and thereafter to 60 MT by 2020. For achieving the 2010 target, SAIL will need around 42 MT of iron ore, whereas for 60 MT the requirement is pegged at about 100 MT. For the next 50 years, SAIL has listed total iron ore requirement of over 3 billion tonne, which has, however been questioned by Jharkhand. At present, iron ore available from SAIL’s mines in Orissa and Jharkhand is approximately 26.33 MT. Of the 10 mining leases SAIL had in Chiria and Gua region, renewal of four is under dispute with the Jharkhand government and is pending in court. Production in the two blocks in Chiria has proven reserves of about 1,769 mt, is only around 1.2 MT which will be ramped up to 50 mt provided the leases are awarded.

(The writer was in Chiria at SAIL’s invitation)