Central government will decide if South Korean steelmaker POSCO can have preferential access to an iron ore mine for its planned $12 billion steel plant, a top court said, providing a boost to the troubled project billed as the country's largest foreign direct investment (FDI).

POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, has waited eight years to get necessary clearances, land and an iron ore mining licence to start work on the plant in eastern Odisha state slated to have a capacity of 12 million tonnes a year.

The steel ministry has asked the environment ministry to expressly revalidate the green clearance to Posco’s stranded steel project in Orissa “to avoid unnecessary noises raised by NGOs and anti-project entities.”

The ministry would also begin fresh talks with the Naveen Patnaik government to stress the need to hand over the land required for the proposed plant.
The South Korean steel company had inked a MoU with Orissa in June 2005 to set up a 12 million tonne integrated steel project in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district at an estimated expenditure of Rs 53,000 crore, but the project has been dogged with land acquisition issues.

Policy could end land acquisition and green nod problems, and encourage foreign investors

The new steel policy, likely to be announced in a month, is expected to iron out issues related to foreign direct investments, land acquisitions and environment clearances. The draft of the new policy, seen as a stimulus measure, has been circulated for final comments and it would be announced soon, a senior steel ministry official told Business Standard.

GMR Energy Ltd, a subsidiary of 2.6 billion dollar diversified GMR Group, has started power generation at its thermal power plant in Dhenkanal district. The company has commissioned the first unit of its proposed 3X350 MW power project and synchronised it with the central grid network.

“Work on commissioning the second and third unit is also in progress,” the company said in a press release without elaborating the definite time period for completion of the project.

Posco, Asia’s third-largest steelmaker, agreed to buy a stake in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada Inc, Chung Jae Woong, a Seoul-based spokesman at Posco said.

The Korean steelmaker hasn’t decided on the amount of stake it will purchase or for how much, Chung said on Tuesday. The Maeil Business Newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday Posco will buy a 15 per cent stake in the mine for $1.1 billion. Yonhap News reported a group, including Posco and China Steel Corp, will buy the stake for $1.1 billion. China Steel will invest $540 million, while Posco will spend $270 million, the Korean-language news agency said, citing people it didn’t identify.

During the year, govt also contemplated to open up sector for commercial mining

Coal fired a minefield of controversies in 2012, fuelled by CAG estimates of a huge Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss for allocation of coal blocks to business houses without auction which served as fodder to the Opposition parties to target the government. The blaze started from a leaked draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that initially had a figure of Rs 10.6 lakh crore loss resulting from the controversial allocation of coal blocks to about 100 companies without bidding.

The new Bill on Land Acquisition approved by the Union Cabinet will be a huge setback for industrial growth in Odisha at a time when big ticket investors like Posco and ArcelorMittal are already struggling to procure land for their projects, industry experts said.

According to the new Bill ratified by the Cabinet, industrial projects would need consent of at least 80 per cent of the land losers. "The new Bill will be a huge setback for industrial growth in Odisha. There is already a big noise on land acquisition for projects proposed by Posco and ArcelorMittal. Should the Bill be passed, land acquisition will become all the more difficult for such projects and the projects will be pushed into further delay”, said Ramesh Mahapatra, president, Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (UCCI).

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government has proposed to lay down a well-defined policy for renewal of MoUs signed with industrial houses.

Jamshedpur The HIsarna iron making technology being developed jointly by a consortium of steelmakers in Europe led by Tata Steel, holds prospects of not only being a major green technology but also promises 25% savings in terms of capital expenditure (capex) and operational expenditure (opex).

The technology, which has steel makers ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe, ArcelorMittal and Salzgitter on board, is based on a cyclone reactor, patented by Tata Steel Europe, for melting iron ore, which combines beneath to a HI-smelt (bath smelter) developed by Rio Tinto in Australia.

A day after it posted its first ever quarterly net loss due to slowdown in China and aweak market in Europe, ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer has some reason to cheer.