India’s largest iron ore miner NMDC and Russian steel maker Severstal signed the Implementation Protocol in Moscow for setting up a joint venture steel plant in Karnataka.

A high level delegation from India, comprising the Minister of Steel, Mr Beni Prasad Verma, the Secretary of Steel, Mr P.K. Mishra, and NMDC’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Rana Som, apart from other senior officials, visited Moscow to take the project forward.

The Minister had talks with Mr Viktor Khristenko, the Russian Minister of Industry, during the visit.

The Protocol defines the target initial plant capacity which would be 3 million tonnes of finished steel. It also confirms the intention of NMDC and Severstal to fully meet the joint venture’s captive requirements of both iron ore and coking coal so that it becomes fully integrated for these primary raw materials.

Until the captive assets are fully developed, NMDC and Severstal would take up the responsibilities to supply iron ore and coking coal to the joint venture from their existing assets or alternative sources, NMDC said in a statement.

Mr Alexey Mordashov, Chief Executive of Severstal, said: “Our joint venture project in India with NMDC provides a good fit with Severstal’s vertically integrated, growth-focused business model”.

Mr P.K.Mishra said: “The joint venture between Severstal and NMDC will be another milestone in India-Russia economic cooperation and will be an important investment for the Indian Steel industry.

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