India: NMDC's Nagarnar plant conducts trial run of hot strip mill

NMDC-owned Nagarnar Integrated Steel Plant (NISP) rolled out its first hot rolled coils on a trial basis on 30 June, 2023, SteelMint learnt from reliable sources.

The hot strip mill (HSM) was started yesterday on a pilot basis with slabs procured Steel Authority of India's (SAIL) Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) for rolling out the hot rolled coils.

The blast furnace was not lit. This was a trial run of the HMS.

A source corroborated: "NISP's thin slab caster-hot strip mill (TSC-HSM) trial run happened on 30 June."

It was also learnt that nine slabs were procured from SAIL-RSP for making the mini coils. All the top officials of NISP were present during the trial commissioning.

Some time back, heating up of the blast furnace (BF) started at NISP. Although the proposed date for the much-awaited start of the BF was 15 June, 2023, it seems to have been delayed, probably due to technical reasons. SteelMint had heard that the sinter plant did face some issues, which was delaying commissioning of the BF.

However, all other processes aligned with the start of the blast furnace are ready.

Operation of coke oven battery No. 2 (COB2) started in the third week of April while the first COB was commissioned in late October last year.

In line with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approval, NISP is in the process of being demerged from NMDC into a separate company, Nagarnar Steel Limited (NSL). Subsequent to the demerger shares of NSL will be listed on BSE, NSE and CSE.

The 3-mntpa plant will have a product mix that includes pig iron, HR coils/plates/sheets of various specifications, automotive steel and other items.