Jamshedpur: A day after Jharkhand government's assurance to initiate steps to renew Tata Steel's iron-ore mine, the company on Thursday expressed the hope that mining activities would be resumed in a couple of days.
"There are some formalities needed to be completed, which will be done in two-three days, and than we'll resume our production activity in the Noamundi mine, which remained closed since September last on renewal of lease issue," Tata Steel Managing Director (India and South East Asia) T V Narendran said here.
"We are getting support from the new state government and all the problems will be sorted out soon," he said expressing confidence that the stable government in the state would carry out developmental work fast.
Expressing happiness over the approach of the government in renewal of iron-ore mine, Narendran said, "we had a difficult time importing iron-ore, but we have learnt a lesson while facing difficulty and challenges."
"We never thought we had to import iron-ore for a company operating for so long," he said, admitting that the company did not have enough storage capacity.
"We have imported five million tons of ore since the close of mining activities in September, causing over a century-old company to pass through difficult time," he said adding the company had stock to manage for sometime till mining operation be resumed in the state.
Referring to the Kalinganagar project in Odisha, Narendran said the first phase of three million ton was expected to be commissioned in the next couple of months as Tata Steel had focused on the Greenfield project.
Asked whether Tata Steel has any plan to make new investment in the steel city here, Tata Steel MD said their focus now was in Kalinganagar where the company would invest in next two years to complete the project to its capacity.
"We'll be making environment-related investment to the tune of Rs 1000-2000 crore in the Kalinganagar, where the company will be investing Rs 25,000 crore for the first phase," he said.
"Our total investment in Odisha is around Rs 40,000 crore," he said.
Asked about the possibility of further expansion in Jamshedpur plant, Narendran said "we have applied for environmental clearance for it."
"Currently, we have 10.5 million tons of capacity of Hot Metal production, which we have plan to further enhance to 11.5 to 11.8 million tons," he said.
When sought his comment on the new government, Narendran said the business community always favoured a stable and development-oriented government.
"We are proud that a labourer from the steel city, Raghuvar Das, who was a Tata Steel employee, has become the chief minister and he would ensure development of the mineral-rich state," he said.
