Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

Tata Steel plans to start titanium dioxide plant by March 2008

Staff Reporter

Looking for adequate land at an affordable price Steel major has already started land acquisition through private negotiation while Mining Lease application is being processed

TIRUNELVELI: TATA Steel Limited, which has planned to invest Rs. 2,000 crores in its titanium dioxide (TiO2) plant proposed to be established on the Sattankulam-Kuttam stretch in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts, is expected to start Mining and Mineral Separation i.e. the first stage of their process by March 2008, provided the company could get adequate land at an affordable price for mining.

"We are in need of 16,000 acres of land for our project, 75 per cent of which will be used for mining. If we can get a minimum of 5,000 acres for mining by March 2006 as well as mining lease and clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests around that time, we'll start the construction of the plant by May 2006 and complete it by December 2007. The trial and commercial production will start from March 2008," S. Asokan, chief, Titania Business, TATA Steel, told reporters here on Monday.

In the second stage, construction of the plants to manufacture synthetic rutile and the final premium product of TiO2 Pigment, a brilliant white powder, which is largely used in paint industry as a material to give extra sheen to the dye, would be started simultaneously in April 2007 in a bid to commence their commercial production by March 2009 and March 2011 respectively to provide direct employment to 800 persons and indirect employment to over 2,500 persons.

"Enthused by the positive interest shown by the Tamil Nadu Government for establishment of the TiO2 pigment manufacturing unit in the State," the MoU was signed in 2003 after which the State Government granted three "prospecting licences" over an extent of 80 sq km on the Sattankulam-Kuttam stretch. Though the techno-economic feasibility study being undertaken by a consortium of companies from the U.S., Germany and Australia would be completed by December this year, the information available with TATA Steels so far have yielded "highly encouraging results."

The steel major has already started land acquisition through private negotiation while Mining Lease application is being processed by the State Government.

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