Metal & Oil & Gas News –
Economic Times reported that TATA Steel, which produces 17 millions tonne of iron ore annually from its captive mines in Odisha and Jharkhand, imported a shipload of iron ore from Australia last month.
According to sources in the trade, the vessel arriving from the Kwinana Port in western Australia has docked at Haldia and Paradeep ports.
Although the spokesperson for the steelmaker said that the material was for testing purposes, industry sources wonder whether the company was exploring contingency plans in case a court intervention brings mining to a temporary halt in the state.
TATA Steel said that “We have imported a small parcel of 45,000 million tonne of Iron ore from Australia of a specific quality to test operational regime in our blast furnaces. This is a normal practice in the world’s leading steel mills as it helps in deciding the operating parameters and improving efficiencies and reducing costs.
Source – Economic Times
