Jindal strikes gold in Bolivia iron mine

Exactly a month after his elder brother Sajjan Jindal scrapped the $ 422-million CIC Energy coal mine acquisition deal in Canada due to regulatory hurdles, younger brother Navin Jindal's firm Jindal Steel Bolivia (JSB) started dispatching iron ore from its El- Mutun mines in Puerto Aguirre, a river port in Bolivia, South America.

The logistics of the dispatch of the iron ore has been a major challenge for this project and the company has been striving hard for years.

The start of iron ore transportation is a giant step towards overcoming this challenge, the company said in a statement. JSB is a subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and this is for the first time that iron ore from JSB has been exported.

JSB will be exporting iron ore, mainly to China, Middle East, European and South American countries.

The first shipment was flagged off by Vikrant Gujral, group vice chairman and head global ventures of JSPL. JSB has plans to export up to 10 MTPA of products that includes concentrate, pellets, DRI and steel upon completion of this project.

Jindal Steel Bolivia had secured the development rights of 20 billion tonnes of iron ore of El Mutun mines, one of the world's single biggest iron- ore deposits, in 2007.

The 40-year contract that gave the company the right to mine the reserves of iron ore also includes setting up an integrated 1.7 MTPA Steel Plant, a six MTPA sponge iron and 10 MTPA iron ore pellet plant in Bolivia with an investment of $ 2.1 billion, JSB said.

This will be the largest investment by an Indian company in South America and also the largest investment by a foreign company on a single project in Bolivia, it added.

The company is starting construction work on the DRI, pelletisation and steel project, which are expected to become operational in the next three to four years.

JSB has already placed an order for an ultra mega module DRI plant of 2.52 MTPA capacity from Midrex, USA. It has acquired land for the project and the natural gas supply and other infrastructure facilities have been committed by the government of Bolivia.

Navin Jindal may be making massive inroads into South America, but Sajjaj Jindal's JSW Steel Ltd is active in Texas in the USA. In 2007 JSW Steel had purchased 90 per cent stake in three Texas-based steel mills such as Jindal United Steel Corp, Saw Pipes USA Inc. and Jindal Enterprises LLC for $ 900 million from brother Prithvi Raj Jindal's Jindal SAW Ltd.

JSW Steel is exporting captive steel plates to its American plants where pipes are made.

Courtesy: Mail Today