The State-run National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Russian steel maker Severstal are likely to sign a final agreement to set up a steel plant in Bellary by the end of this year.

“Both companies have appointed legal consultants to study the project structure, and based on inputs, both firms will sign an agreement,” N K Nanda, Chairman and Managing Director, NMDC, told Deccan Herald on Thursday.

Bid to prevent captive mine owners from selling byproducts; make them add value to ore. The Centre has moved to clear any ambiguity that could be misused by captive mine owners to sell iron ore fines in the open market. The move comes after the Jharkhand High Court in February stayed the State from banning exports, but relaxed it later to allow a one-time domestic sale of iron ore fines from the captive mines of Usha Martin and Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

Major energy savings in the steel re-rolling sector and in the small tea processing enterprise, initiated by the UNDP, has seen a substantive increase in energy efficiency in these industries.

UNDP, India, country director Caitlin Wiesen, told this newspaper, “Intervention in the steel re-rolling industry has seen efficiency levels go up between 30-40 per cent.”

Calcutta, May 22: The impasse over the expansion and modernisation of the SAIL’s IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur appears to have been resolved with the company tacitly agreeing to give jobs to a set of aggrieved land-losers. The commissioning of the Rs 17,000-crore project — the biggest expansion initiative in Bengal — had been delayed for months as agitators had refused to relocate a deity (Jhorabudi) from the site as SAIL was not accepting their demand for jobs.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a statutory body under the Union ministry of power, is planning to save 2,308 Mw of energy worth around Rs 11,540 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) by mandating the labelling of electronic products. Of this, 400 Mw, worth Rs 2,000 crore, is expected to be saved from the air-conditioners segment.

The central government has already mandated four products – split air-conditioners, fluorescent lamps, transformers and frost-free refrigerators – under the energy efficiency star-labelling to reduce energy consumption, and identified 10 products on a voluntary basis.

New Delhi: Steel major SAIL on Monday got a dressing down from the government over “unsatisfactory” performance and poor progress in expansion and modernization programmes, leading to cost escalations. While SAIL chairman C S Verma termed the Maharatna’s performance as satisfactory, steel minister Beni Prasad Verma came down heavily on the company, warning that “administrative decisions” will be taken if performance is not turned around.

State-owned trading giant MMTC has inked pacts with Japanese and South Korean steel companies including Posco, to supply 2.8 million tonnes of iron ore annually for a period of three years.

"We have signed iron ore supply contracts with five Japanese firms and one South Korean company for a period of three years. The exports are expected to start from July this year,"

The coal ministry has said captive coal blocks could not be allocated to private companies at the market price of reserves. This is despite the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) recently blaming the government for extending “undue gains” worth a whopping Rs 10.6 lakh crore to companies by not allocating the blocks at market prices.

The company has so far got 500 acres while the govt claims to have acquired 2,000 acres
South Korean steel major Posco and Odisha government have agreed to set up an 8 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant near Paradeep in Odisha in two phases, downsizing it from the earlier plan of 12 mtpa. The company is also willing to settle for less land – 2,700 acres instead of 4,004 acres – to set up its plant.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has sought a fresh detailed project report from Posco India concerning its proposal to downsize the proposed 12-MTPA steel project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district as the chairman and managing director of the company is scheduled to meet chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday.