India: TATA Steel kickstarts mining activities at Sukinda Chromite mines

Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) on Monday commenced the groundbreaking ceremony to kickstart the mining operations at Sukinda in Jajpur district. One of the officials shared with SteelMint, "There are various secondary work pending, like road repairs etc., that will be done, and the mining operations might start from next week." There is an estimation, that the dispatches will begin by the end of October, he added.

Three chromite mines of TSML in Jajpur district namely, Sukinda Chromite Mine, Saruabil Chromite Mine and Kamarda Chromite Mine constitute the first commercial leases to be converted into mining leases, across India, among leases expired on March 31, 2020, and auctioned. The leases are granted for a period of 50 years.

Out of the three, Sukinda Chromite mine, didn't go for a change of hands unlike Saruabil and Kamarda Chromite mine, whose erstwhile owners were Misrilal Mines and BC Mohanty and Sons Mines respectively. For the other two mines, mining is expected to commence by November.

TSML formerly TS Alloys acquired Sukinda mines with a premium of 93.75% and BC Mohanty and Sons' Kamarda mine, with a bid of 96.8% and Misrilal Mine's Saruabil deposits with a bid of 88.5% premium.

The Indian ferro chrome industry is facing an acute shortage of materials since June. The three major mines which went through auctions were not operational since Mar' 20 and OMC also couldn't conduct auctions post-May, amidst shortfall in production quantities due to confluence of factors.

Total inventory from the three mines as on 31st Mar' 20 was 6,22,107t, which was to be cleared in a span of six months. However, with most of the quantity sold, the projected quantity to be left out at present is 21,732 t. Meanwhile, the total monthly requirement in India stands at 0.3mn t, and with OMC still not announcing the dates for forthcoming auctions, temporary shut down of ferro chrome units without captive mines cannot be ruled out. However, TSML official said that they have sufficient inventory to last till end of November in their ferro chrome units, which will guarantee smooth operations.