Essar Steel today announced the commissioning of an integrated Pellet Complex in State of Odisha comprising of Iron ore beneficiation facility at Dabuna (Keonjhar), 6 MTPA Pellet plant at Paradeep (Jagatsinghpur) and 253 kms long slurry pipe line with 12 MTPA carrying capacity connecting the beneficiation facility and Pellet Plant. Essar has invested around Rs 60 billion in setting up this integrated complex.

The beneficiation facility is designed to use low grade iron ore fines. The Slurry pipeline is the most cost effective and fastest mode of transportation that eases significant pressure on rail and road network, with reduced carbon foot print and minimal environmental impact, the company said.

With the commissioning of this integrated complex, Essar Steel has become the largest Pellet producer in the country with an annual Pellet production capacity of 14 MTPA-8 MTPA at Vizag complex and 6 MTPA at Odisha complex.

A further 6 MTPA Pellet plant at Paradeep is scheduled to be commissioned shortly including the corresponding upscaling of the Beneficiation Plant, taking the annual Pellet Production capacity of Odisha Complex to 12 MTPA, it added.

While dedicating the facility to the nation, chairman of Essar Steel, Shashi Ruia said, ''Essar has always put a lot of emphasis on sustainable development. The way this state of the art complex has been designed puts maximum emphasis on achieving our goals in the State of Odisha. It is a matter of pride that Indian engineers have delivered this challenging project keeping the balance between growth and sustainability.''

Rajendra Mittal, CEO, Odisha, Essar Steel, said, ''We are happy that we have commissioned the pellet facility, capable of using low grade iron ore fines to produce value added product, a critical input for   iron/steel making. This has been possible only with persistent support and industry friendly policies of government of Odisha. We thank Government of Odisha for the same.''