JSW Steel has won two iron ore mines with a total reserve of 980 million tonne in an auction in Odisha. The company won Narayanposhi iron block with 190 million tonne reserve on 2 February 2020.
Others in the fray for this iron ore mine include ArcelorMittal India, Vedanta, Tata Steel and Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL). On 31 January 2020, JSW Steel bagged the Nuagaon mine which is the largest iron ore block in the auction in Odisha. It has a total estimated reserve of around 790 million tonne.
Both the mines are operational and its leases were expiring in March 2020. JSW Steel at present has a capacity of 18 million tpa. Both wins will give JSW Steel around 22 million tpa of captive iron ore for its plants. Also, it won six category C-Mines last year in Karnataka which are not fully operational, providing another seven-eight million tpa of iron ore.
The 18 mines containing iron ore reserves together hold 1,600 million tonne of which 33 percent (five mines) are reserved for specified end-use (captive usage). These are old mines where leases are set to expire in March 2020.
