By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, November 24, 2021: Tata Steel has set up a 8 milion ton per annum (mtpa) Crushing & Washing Plant at its Khondbond Iron & Manganese Mine (KIMM) near Joda in Keonjhar district of Odisha.

The plant design includes three stage crushing and screening. To reduce the inherent alumina from the ore, two rotary drum scrubbers have been installed which can reduce the alumina of the incoming ore, thereby improving the ore quality.

Tata Steel CEO and Managing Director, T V Narendran, launched the programme in the presence of D B Sundara Ramam, Vice President (Raw Materials), Tata Steel, Avneesh Gupta, Vice President (TQM and Engineering & Projects), Tata Steel, Atul Kumar Bhatnagar, General Manager (OMQ Division), Tata Steel, Mukesh Ranjan, Chief Projects OMQ Division, Tata Steel, Pervez Akhtar, Chief Projects Raw Materials, Tata Steel and other senior officials and vendor partners of the Company.

Speaking on the occasion, T V Narendran emphasised upon the need to focus more on resource efficiency, productivity and technology with the requirement of raw materials growing in line with the growth of the Company. He congratulated the OMQ Division and the Engineering & Projects team for achieving this great milestone.

The iron ore processing plant will cater to the rapidly growing raw material requirements of Tata Steel and will provide raw material security. In line with the Company’s core objective of building sustainable mining and manufacturing processes, the state-of-the-art facility incorporates latest technology for ore processing, enabling efficient resource usage and reduced wastage.

The slurry from the scrubbing screens is processed through hydro-cyclone clusters, maximising ore recovery and reducing wastage. The overflow from the hydro-cyclone is fed to a high rate settling thickener which facilitates recovery of process water from the slime. To further minimise wastage of water, the water recovered from the thickener is recycled back in the plant for recirculation, minimising the requirement of makeup water for plant operation.

In-plant rainwater harvesting reservoir has also been created to store and reuse the rainwater runoff from the hill slopes for dust suppression, plant operations & ground water charging in and around Khondbond. A paste thickener facility is also being set-up within the premises for further improving the recovery of water. The plant is equipped with Dry fog dust suppression system and water sprinklers for controlling fugitive dust emissions within the product stockpiles.