By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/JODA/BARBIL: Call it B Prabhakaran, the Tamil Nadu’s Salem born, Mining Contractor is flying high. The mining giant, who is playing his cards in India’s all most all mineral bearing States, mostly in Naveen Patnaik ruled Odisha and Hemanta Soren ruled Jharkhand, in eastern India , is all set to become India’s 3rd largest exporter of iron ore while closely chasing the Rungta Mines Group and others.
B Prabhakaran, who has multiple operations in India and Abroad, expects to become the third largest Indian iron ore exporter with a forecast export volume of around 5.54 million mt for FY2020-21, highly placed sources closely monitoring mining activities in Odisha, said on Friday.
The source said the company aimed to sell 1st and 2nd week of August-loading shipments of its 57% Fe Indian Thriveni Fines (ITF), with an aim of exporting 3-4 million mt in 2020 alone.With Chinese end-users emphasizing sinter feed stability, Thriveni Group also seeks to sell its iron ore under a single identifiable blend with a focus on consistency at 6% alumina and 6% silica. Among the Indian fines, marketable brands with consistency in specifications like Rungta Mines Group fines have an added premium in their market pricing, the source said.
With the completion of the Odisha iron ore mining auctions and environmental clearances in place, domestic Indian supply of iron ore looks set to be tightened with administrative processes expected to lengthen the handover period as well. Market sources said that with the large majority of supply from those mines staying in the domestic market, export volumes will inevitably be tightened as well.
B Prabhakaran has iron ore and manganese mining operations in Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. It may be noted here that in May –June this year, Thriveni Earthmovers (TEPL) and Lloyds Metals and Energy (LEML) had incorporated a joint venture company namely, Thriveni Lloyds Mining. The JV has been formed with a 60% ratio consisting of TEPL and 40% ratio of LEML.The iron ore mine of LEML is situated at Surjagarh, Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. The lease is for an area of 348 ha and has total deposits of more than 91 million tonne. These reserves are of the grade of 63 Fe.
TEPL has mined more than 30 million tonne of iron ore in 2019-20 as the Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) to various lease owners in Odisha. For these operations, TEPL has a mining asset base of more than 1,600 machines, including loaders and associated drilling machines.
Meanwhile, India’s largest iron ore miner NMDC, after increasing prices by INR 200 on July 31st, has again increased the price of iron ore lumps by INR 300 to INR 2,950 per tonne and that of iron ore fines by INR 300 to INR 2,660 a tonne effective from August 12, 2020, up by 31% & 37% respectively since July beginning.
This move follows pick up in steel production in India after COVID19 unlocking and gets support from booming global prices of about USD 120 CFR Qingdao for benchmark Australian 62% fines.The prices exclude royalty, District Mineral Fund, National Mineral Exploration Trust, cess, forest permit fee, and other taxes, the company said.
Earlier in April this year, Thriveni Earth Movers Pvt Ltd with Indonesia’s PT Darma Henwa Tbk (DEWA) had agreed on a joint venture company establishment and consultancy cooperation with Indian mining services company Thriveni Resomin Pte Ltd. The agreement was signed by President Director of Darma Henwa Saptari Hoedaja and Managing Director of Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt Ltd, Balasubramanian Prabhakaran.
Few days back, B Prabhakaran had for the first time had got a jolt , ArcelorMittal reportedly completed the acquisition of Odisha Slurry Pipeline Infrastructure Ltd for a net consideration of INR 1,860 crore, filling a much needed gap in its supply chain logistics to procure iron ore for AMNS India. Prabhakaran tried his best to acquire OSPIL but failed.
OSPIL owns and operates a 253-km pipeline that connects iron ore mines in Dabuna, Odisha, to a pelletisation plant in Paradip. It connects ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (formerly Essar Steel) iron ore beneficiation plant in Dabuna to its pellet plant in Paradip in Odisha.
