1 Project Description

1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

MSPL Limited (MSPL) has been established a 1.2 MTPA Iron Ore Pellet Plant over 41 Acres, at Survey no. 2, 8, 9, 12 to 15, 132, 136 & part of 5, 6, 7, 16, 17 at Village: Halavarthi, Tahsil: Koppal, District: Koppal, Karnataka. Government of Karnataka has issued Environmental Clearance for establishment of pellet plant vide letter no. FEE 28 ECO 2010 dated: 1/12/2010.

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has granted consent for operation, combined consent order no. KSPCB/SEO/MINES/2010-11/673, Dated: 08.12.2010. As per Environmental Impact Notification S.O.1533 (E), dt.14th September 2006, as amended 2009, issued under Environment (Protection) Act 1986, has made it mandatory to obtain environmental clearance for scheduled development projects from MOEF&CC.

With above Notification, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board had issued a letter vide PCB/MINI/LIMESTONE/2014-15/3579 Dated 16 Oct 2014 to MSPL Ltd, to obtain EC from MOEF&CC to the ‘stand-alone’ Pellet Plant within one year. The TOR was prescribed for undertaking detailed EIA-EMP study in addition to generic TOR vide Letter No. F.N. J-11011/383/2014-IA.II (I) Dated: 8th April 2015.

The EC was accorded to the project by MOEF&CC vide their Letter no No. F.N. J- 11011/383/2014-IA.II (I) Dated: 23rd September 2016

1.1 Purpose of this environmental Appraisal Report

The purpose of this Environmental Appraisal Report is to help the regulatory authority to review the proposed modification in the existing pellet plant and its impact on environment due to the addition of beneficiation circuit as high-quality iron ore is not available in the region of Karnataka. The quality of ore available to the process is in the range of 53-54% of Fe while the existing process is meant to be operated at 63% plus Fe. This Environmental Appraisals Report (EAR) accordingly addresses the change in environmental concerns for Pellet plant (Stand-Alone) of 1.2 MTPA capacity of M/s MSPL Limited, located at Village: Halavarthi, Tahsil: Koppal, District: Koppal.

1 This is to bring your kind notice that neither there will be product mix change nor there will be change in the quantity of production which remain unchanged at 1.2 MTPA Pellet. Since this proposal is for up-gradation of existing wet process of IOGS (iron ore grinding system) unit to beneficiate iron ore available in Karnataka state having 53 to 54 % of Fe to 63% plus Fe suitable to be process through this pellet plant, hence we request to process our application under clause 7.2 for modification in existing EC issued by MOEF&CC.

1.2 Identification of Project & Project Proponent

1.2.1 The Company

M/s MSPL Limited is a flagship company of the Baldota Group of Companies; a leading iron ore mining, processing and export company with 53 years of expertise behind. In addition to mining, MSPL also own and operate wind farms, with a total installed capacity of 215.75 MW. The wind farms are situated across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. MSPL is an ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:1996 and OHSAS 18001:1999 certified company. We were also the first unit certified, in the Indian mining sector, for upgrades to ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 status, as certified by Bureau Veritas. MSPL have been honoured with numerous awards, by the Central Government of India and the State of Karnataka, for outstanding contributions to the Indian iron ore industry. 1.2.2 Project Proponent

Name and Address of project proponent:

Name of the Unit M/s MSPL Limited

Baldota Bhavan, 117, Maharshi Karve Road, Regd. Office Mumbai - 400020 Survey no. 2, 8, 9, 12 to 15, 132, 136 & part of 5, Plant Location 6, 7, 16, 17. Village: Halavarthi, Tahsil: Koppal,

Contact Person District:Dr. Meda Koppal. Venkataiah E-mail [email protected] Mobile No. 9900256797

2 2 Typeof theProject The pelletizing plant of 1.2 MTPA capacity is situated at Halvarti villages of the Koppal district in the State of Karnataka, mainly for utilization of iron ore fines available from the mines being operated by the Baldota group in the Bellary Hospet area of Karnataka. The available techniques of pelletizing process include: grate kiln, travelling grate and shaft furnace. The technique of Grate-kiln technology is adopted by MSPL Limited for 1.2 million TPA pellet project.

2.2 Clearances/Consents available

The following Clearances / Consents have been obtained from State Government/Central Government for the existing Pellet Plant :

i. Government of Karnataka has issued Environmental Clearance for Establishment of new Pelletization plant under letter no. FEE 28 ECO 2010 dated: 1/12/2010.

ii. Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has granted consent for operation, combined consent order no. combined consent order no. KSPCB/SEO/MINES/2010-11/673, Dated: 08.12.2010 and existing consent for operation, order No. AWH-301242 DTD. 20/10/2016 VALID UP TO 30.06.2021.

iii. MOEF & CC had given Environment Clearance of the project under the provision of EIA notification 2006. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change, vide letter No. F J-11011/383/2014-1A II(I) dated 23rd. September, 2016.

3 Need of the pellet Project Iron-making technology was established for conversion of iron ore lumps to hot metal/Direct Reduced Iron (DRI). However, with mechanized mining, production of iron ore lumps suitable for efficient iron making operation leads to generation of significant amount of fines (more than 60%) at the mines, which cannot be used directly in the Blast Furnaces / Corex units/DR Units. Thus the agglomeration technologies have been developed for processing iron input to the iron making processes- which are mainly sintering and pelletizing. Blast furnace operators worldwide are using either sinter or pellets in varying proportions depending on the availability and cost consideration. It may be noted that while sinter is extensively used for iron making in blast furnaces, pellets are used not only for blast furnaces and Corex units iron making but also for production of DRI / HBI in direct reduction processes.

3 Utilization of low grade ore and fines has to play an important role In India. Partly due to the sponge iron sector; the overall percentage of lumps usage in steel making (47%) is higher than most other countries. As hard ore reserves is depleting day by day, lump generation suitable for blast furnace operation is coming down resulting in production of large amount of surplus fines. Alternative iron making processes for production of steel may lead to changing pattern of use material inputs and feed stock causing significant shift in respective share of lumps and agglomerated iron ore (pellets) and will also enable the use of ores which could not be utilized earlier. As fines form considerable part of iron ore resources, value addition to the iron ore fines, through various activities such as Beneficiation, Pelletization is the need of the hour.

Presently, most of the coal based sponge iron plants in India, use iron ore lumps. The requirement is generally 1.6 to 1.8 t/ t of sponge iron. These high requirements are mainly due to the fines generated in handling the purchased ore from the sources to the plant. This reduces the kiln campaign length and increases the loss of ore fines.

Use of pellets with better physical and metallurgical properties for sponge iron production reduces the accretion formation in the kiln and the pellets consumption is about 1.6 t/t. Further, the production from the kiln is expected to increase by 35% to 40%. It is noteworthy that the operations of the iron ore mines of M/s MSPL Limited at Viom (high grade) and Lyll (Low grade) are in process. Thus, the iron ore fines so generated, are utilized through pelletizing route for making mainly coal based sponge iron and sometimes at blast furnaces also..

The use of pellets is however, restricted in the Indian Blast Furnaces mainly due to high cost of pellets compared to lump ore and captive sinter. But In the face of shrinking reserves of high-grade ores, low grade ores must now be concentrated before further processing and used. Pellets form one of the best options, due to their excellent physical and metallurgical properties. Concentrating iron values in ore needs grinding to liberate the gangue. Pelletizing is the only agglomeration process of these beneficiated concentrates. Moreover, due to their high strength and suitability for storage, pellets can be easily transported over long distances, with repeated transhipments if necessary.

In view of the encouraging economic growth in the country, which is likely to continue in the future, M/s MSPL Ltd had taken the decision and set up a pellet plant.

Secondly, the Hospet-Bellary region in the state of Karnataka is a high potential zone in terms of Iron and steel and allied industries because of natural resources like water and raw materials like iron ore, Dolomite etc. The easy availability of iron ore from nearby mines and water from Tungabhadra reservoir makes it an attractive area for iron steel industry.

4 4 Need for modification in the process

The running 1.2 million ton per year pellet plant for which Environment consents/clearances is already available from both the state Government and Union Government as stated in para – 1.2 operates by using as mined iron ore fines (-10 mm ). After blending, the average Fe content of the fines are maintained commensurate to an average Fe of minimum 63% in the pellet which is acceptable by blast furnaces and coal based sponge iron plants. As mentioned before, the Group has two operating mines – one high grade (+65%) and the other low grade (56-60%). The compulsion of maintaining the minimum Fe% in the pellet at 63% severely limits the proportion of the poorer grade captive iron ore in the pellet plant. Further, In general, the average grade of iron ore available in Karnataka is lower than those of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. The present process available at the pellet plant would severely limit use of iron ore fines of Fe % lower than 58% which are abundant in Karnataka with economic price. So it is intended to introduce a fine iron ore beneficiation circuit in the process to upgrade fine ore with 53.5% Fe (average) to a fine ore concentrate (325 mesh – P80) with 63.3% Fe. Even though the concentration process will generate tailings and these are planned to be stored in an eco friendly way, at an adjacent site for future profitable use. The fine beneficiated concentrate would go to the hoppers of the green balling plant in the main circuit of the pellet plant. The present equipment used for dry grinding of the (-) 10 mm iron fines to 325 mesh would not be used unless fines not needing beneficiation are used at any time. For such fines the wet grinding can be used bypassing the beneficiation circuit.

5. The proposed modification in the process therefore would bring the following benefits to the company as well as to the country as a whole.

• Poorer grade local iron ore fine (with Fe 54-56%) which have a very restricted use in the Indian/local steel industry will find an outlet leading to the conservation of iron ore resources in line with our national mineral policy. • This would lead to clearing of accumulated low grade fine ore dumps in nearby mines. • The company would be able to increase the output of the mine with poor grade ore and would be able to lengthen the life of the better ore grade mine by reducing output. This would improve the viability of the pellet production. The present margin in pellet production from better grade ores is very thin. • Even when the company is to buy fine ore from the market in Karnataka, going for poorer grade fines would give price advantages. Now that demand of poor grade fine ores from China had dwindled and import of low grade fine ore is restricted in China.

5 6. Location: The Existing operational 1.2 million TPA Iron Ore Pellet Plant is situated at Survey no. 2, 8, 9, 12 to 15, 132, 136 & part of 5, 6, 7, 16, 17.Village: Halavarthi, Tahsil: Koppal, District: Koppal, Karntaka. The proposed up-gradation of the existing Wet process of IOGS (Iron ore grinding system) by introduction of additional equipments to form beneficiation circuit to the process will be carried out within the approved boundary of the pellet plant.

7 Project Highlights:

Table 1: Project Highlights

Sr. Particulars Details No. Survey no. 2, 8, 9, 12 to 15, 132, 136 & part of 5, 6, 1 Project Site 7, 16, 17.Village: Halavarthi, Tahsil & District: Koppal, Karnataka. N15 o 19’49.9”, E76 o 12’29.9” N15 o 19’35.9”, E76 o 12’29.5” 2 Site Co-ordinates o o N15 19’35.8”, E76 12’12.0” N15 o 19’49.4”, E76 o 12’12.0” 3 Topo sheet No. 57 A/3 4 Elevation above MSL 515 m

5 Present Land use Industrial Annual Average Maximum Temp 440C, Annual Average Minimum Temp 100C 6 Climatic Conditions Annual Average Rainfall 572 mm, Annual Average Humidity 47-68% 7 Nearest Highway NH -63, 1.8 Km : N Hubli, 120 Km : W (Commercial Airport) 8 Nearest Airport Baldoa, MSPL : 4 Km : N ( Private Airport) 9 Nearest Railway Station Ginigerea, 4.5 Km : NE

10 Nearest Village Halavarthi, 0.5 Km : S

11 Nearest Town Koppal, 6 Km.: NW Tungabhadra River, 4.0 km : SE 12 Nearest water body

6 Figure 1: General Location of the Project

Site

7 Figure 2: Specific Location of the Project Site

8 Figure 3: The Google Image of the Project Site

8 Size / Magnitude of Operation The existing operational pelletizing plant of 1.2 MTPA capacity is situated at Village: Halavarthi, Tahsil & District: Koppal, Karnataka. The area of the project is 41 Acres (Total area in possession is 113 Acres).

The Indian steel industry which predominantly uses expensive lump ore is gradually moving towards usage of sintered ore and pellets. We have forayed into pellets; with a modest start of 1.2 million tonnes per annum pellet plant. We cater to the requirements of sponge Iron manufacturers in South India, by providing customers premium quality pellets which will yield higher metallised Sponge Iron with reduced production costs.

9 IronOrePelletPlant The Main Plant facilities of the Pellet Plant after modification would be as under:

1. Raw Material Yard Existing

2. Dry Grinding units for Bentonite and Coal Existing

3 Fine ore beneficiation circuit comprising of:

9 Scrubber, primary grinding and spiral 3A Modification/Addition concentrator building Secondary, tertiary grinding and magnetic Modification/Addition 3B separation building. 3C Filtration building for concentrate & pellets Modification/Addition

3D Filter cake storage Modification/Addition

3E Thickeners for concentrate & tails Modification/Addition

4. Disc Pelletizer Building Existing

5. Travel Grate, Rotary Kiln, Annular Cooler Existing

6. Product Screening Room Existing

7. De-dusting System Existing

8. Utilities / Services Existing

The layout of the plant after introduction of fine ore beneficiation is given in the Drawing No. ENVIRO/MSPL/PELLET/EC/GL/001. The original layout of the pellet plant is with provision for wet grinding of ore with space earmarked and provision of the equipment. The proposed modifications have been mostly adjusted within those space provisions.

10. Plant description

10.1 Raw Material Yard Iron ore fines for the pellet plant are received from MSPL’s mines by self- discharging trucks / dumpers. A stockyard of about 60,000t capacity is available to store about 10 day’s requirement of iron ore fines. Coal from port of unloading is received at site in trucks and an overall stacking capacity of about 8,000t is available which meet 60 days requirement of coal. Bentonite is received by trucks in loose form and is stored in a covered building with a storage capacity of about 1100t, which meets 20 days requirement. Iron ore fines, coal and bentonite are reclaimed from the respective storages by front end loaders.

10.2 Raw Material Preparation Iron ore fines are currently wet ground in a ball mill and coal & bentonite is ground in a vertical roller mill. Both the mills and bins of respective feed materials Iron ore; Bentonite and Coal are provided in the same building. Ground product is stored in separate silos of iron ore / bentonite and coat bin. After modification, fine ore will be beneficiated from 53-54% Fe to over 63% Fe through scrubbing-de-sliming-

10 primary grinding-spiral concentration-secondary/tertiary grinding and magnetic separation.

10.2.1 Description of the beneficiation process of fine ore.

The iron ore input is iron ore fines (-) 10 mm. The iron ore material is received in underground feed hopper. Iron ore is conveyed to 2 nos day bins. There is needle feeder below the day bins, which discharges the material onto another belt conveyor. This belt conveyor feed the material to one scrubber. Water is mixed with iron ore and loose clay particles are dislodged and come into slurry. Output of scrubber goes to a vibrating screen having 1 mm aperture. Screen coarse size particle are carried to the primary ball mill through a belt conveyor. Undersize particles from the screen are sent to de-sliming cyclones at 25µm. De- sliming cyclone underflow is mixed with primary ball mill output and overflow is sent to tailing thickener. Output from primary ball mill is fed to sizing hydro-cyclone targeted at 300µm size. The underflow (+300µm) from this cyclone will route back to ball mill for further grinding and overflow (-3-00µm) will proceed for further beneficiation steps.

Sizing hydro-cyclone overflow will pass through de-sliming cyclone to prepare material (30% solids) for spiral circuit. Material with about 30% solids will pass to spiral circuit, where two products namely concentrate and tails will be generated. Spiral concentrate will have superior Fe grade of +63% Fe and will go to final grinding step. Spirals tails will go to a regrinding mill. The product of regrinding mill will be fed to magnetic separator circuit. Magnetic circuit concentrate will have +63% Fe grade and will go to final grinding step. Output of final grinding mill will be sent to the concentrate thickener. Tails generated from magnetic circuit will be sent to the tailing thickener.

Material from concentrate thickener will be filtered using pressure filter to product cake with about 8-10% moisture and will be stacked in the designated area for pellet manufacturing. Tails from tailing thickener will be sent to tailing filter to produce cake of about 15-17% moisture. These cakes will be stacked in demarcated open area inside the plant for a short time before shifting to an environmentally controlled adjoining area for storage for further use. The tentative location of this storage is shown a drawing ENVIRO/MSPL/PELLET/GL-002. Since the need to store tails will arise only after commissioning of the beneficiation circuit, EC for this site for temporary storage of tails will be sought after words. The land is already in possession of MSPL and proper environment protection for water and air pollution will be taken by providing light vegetation cover on the dumps and providing a green belt around it.

11 Quantity of waste generated will be about 0.65 million tonnes per annum.

The summary of the features of the fine ore beneficiation process is given in the Table below:

Sl. Item Value No. 1 Annual production of concentrate envisaged 1,400,000 t 2 Feed grade % Fe 53-54 (-) 10 mm 3 Feed size F80 6 mm 4 Product size P 80: 325 mesh 63.5% Fe in pellet 5 Product grade commensurate. 6 Annual working hours envisaged 7920 (330 days) 7 Annual feed input of fine ore 2,200,000 t 8 Average Fe in input fines envisaged 53.5% 9 Specific gravity 3.88 10 Yield 64%

The flow chart of the iron ore beneficiation process to be adopted by the company is given in Annexure-1 and also in the next page.

12 The Beneficiation of fine ore circuit

13 10.2.2 Coal Grinding:

Imported coal is received in plant by trucks and is stock piled in coal shed. The same is transferred to Day bin inside the Grinding unit for Ore / Bentonite and Coal by a set of conveyors.

The main facilities in this system are raw coal bin, Belt weigh feeder, Hot gas generator, vertical roller mill, Cyclone & bag filter with ac ID fan.

The day bin for coal fines is located inside the Ball mill building along the side of dried ore bin and Bentonite bin. This bin is load cell mounted for level control in the bin. Effective volume of the bin is approx. 200 cum with its storing capacity of 100 tons and a storage time of 10 hours. Bin is lined with wear resistant material.

The belt weigh feeder located below the bin, feeds regulated quantity of coal to the vertical roller mill having a capacity of 20 TPH.

Hot air generator is attached to the mill, along with a combustion air fan and sealed air fan. LSHS is used as fuel for the burners of HAG at present and has a provision to change over to gas coming from the proposed iron making plant as and when available.

After pulverizing, pulverized coal is pneumatically transported to the burner(s) mounted at the head of rotary kiln (from discharge side of the kiln).

The compressors required to supply compressed air for pneumatic transport of pulverized coal are also accommodated in the same building at Ground level. Provision for nitrogen purging of the system is also given.

10.2.3 Bentonite Grinding:

The Bentonite is procured in lumps from of about <25 mm size and is ground in a vertical Raymond roller mill of capacity 4 t/h to a size of 90% -200 mesh and will be pneumatically transported to the bentonite bin of proportioning building.

10.3 Disc Pelletiser Building The mixed material is conveyed and distributed to 6 mixed material bins with a storage capacity of approx. 50 m3 each, installed directly above the 6 pelletizing discs (5W + 1S). A horizontal conveyor, equipped with pneumatically operated ploughs distributes the mixed material and green ball returns into the mix, material bins. Any spillage passing under these ploughs is discharged at the head end of the conveyor in to the last bin. Belt weigh feeders are provided below the outlet of each bin to draw out required quantity of mixed material onto the pelletizing discs.

The mixed material is continuously discharged from the bins and fed to balling discs. Controlled quantity of water shall be added to the balling discs to adjust the final moisture content of the green balls. Green pellets are formed on the disc. The

14 discs are fixed at suitable inclination and variable speed drive and controlled water spray to aid proper green ball formation.

The green pellets produced will be screened by roller screen to screen out (9)mm to (+16) mm grain size and then will be distributed onto wide belt conveyor and swing belt conveyor. It will be uniformly distributed onto Traveling grate bed and specified thickness of the bed is 200 mm

For distributing the narrow stream of green pellets smoothly and evenly onto the 4 m wide, 48 m Length grate machine, an oscillating conveyor is installed which feeds the green pellets uniformly onto a 4.6 m wide belt conveyor. This wide belt conveyor discharges the green pellets onto a double deck roller feeder which consists of an upper and a lower roller deck. The upper part screens out oversize green pellets (Le. + 16 mm) and the lower deck will screen out undersize green pellets (Le. – 8 mm). Undersize and over size green pellets are recycled by the belt conveyors back to the balling area. 10.4 Induration System Induration system consists of three facilities:

. Travelling Grate . Rotary kiln . Circular cooler

Green pellet are dried and pre-heated on the Travelling grate, indurated in the rotary kiln and cooled in the circular cooler.

. Travelling Grate

The green balls are dried in the travelling grate machine, which consists of hood and moving mechanism, driving unit, scraping unit, wind boxes, dust boxes, and lubrication system etc.

This machine is 4m wide and 45 m long. It is be driven by frequency variable and speed adjustable double drive. The thickness of the distributed material on the grate is 160 - 180mm. The machine on an average runs at a speed of 1.65 m/min.

The travelling grate machine is divided into 4 zones, which are

• Air suction drying zone I • Air suction drying zone II • Preheating zone I • Preheating-zone II.

Air Suction Drying Zone I (Updraft drying section)

The green pellets will be dried with 150 o C drying air flow and the adhesive water of green pellet is removed to prevent too much moisture in the green pellet.

15 Air Suction Drying Zone II (Downdraft drying zone)

This zone uses recovered hot waste gas of nearly 400 o C coming from Preheat zone II making the pellet to withstand over 650 oC temperature of Preheating zone I.

Preheating zone I

The hot air stream over 600 o C will continue to dry and temperature rise green pellet through material bed to ensure that the pellet can withstand high temperature of 1050 o C in preheating Zone II.

Preheating zone II

The pellet will be oxidized, heated and some will be solidified and hardened so that the pellet has certain strength which is necessary for withstanding the impact while dropping from travelling grate to rotary kiln. The heating source is the hot air stream of about 105 o0oC from rotary kiln discharge end. Here the auxiliary burner is provided and fuel oil is used as a fuel for the burner.

. Rotary Kiln

The pellet dried through the travelling grate machine are indurated and hardened in the rotary kiln, which consists of barrel, supporting device, stop wheel device, driving device, seal device, head seal kit, head seal cover, end seal cover, position control system etc.

The rotary kiln is of 4.85m dia X 35m long, slope 4.25%. Soft and frequency converter drive will be adopted. Rotary speed is -1 rpm. The rotary kiln is provided with internal refractory lining with two gears supporting system Resident time of pellet in kiln is about 30 min. Rotary kiln filling rate is 8-10%. Baking temperature is about 1250 to 1300 deg. C.

The preheated pellet are fed into the kiln at end of the rotary kiln through the scraper and chute. Head of the kiln is provided with long flame burners of dedicated design. The pellet are heated / indurated by radial heat uniformly inside the rotary kiln.

From coal injection vessels / hoppers located near the coal pulverizing system, coal is pneumatically transported and injection is carried out to the burners of rotary kiln. Electric valves controls the injection. Two no's combustion air blowers are provided for supply of additional combustion air.

The temperature of the rotary kiln is tested and controlled by infrared and double temperature measurement instrument - fixed thermo couples.

16 Indurated pellets are discharged into the circular cooling machine through the rotary kiln.

Main technical parameters of Rotary Kiln are:

1. Internal dia of the rotary kiln: 4.85m; 2. Length of the rotary kiln: 35m, 3. Slope of the rotary kiln: 4. 25%. 4. Rotary Speed of the rotary kiln: 5. Normal: 1.0 r/min; 6. Speed regulating range: 0.5 - 1.5 r/min; 7. Rotary speed at the emergency: 0.07r/min; 8. Filling rate: 8-10% 9. Material handling capacity 200 t/h, 10. Material to be handled- Hot dried Pellets Feeding sizes: 8-16mm; 11. Duration of the material kept in the kiln: 30min

10.6 Circular Cooler

Circular cooling machine consists of driving device, rotary device, supporting roll, side stop gear, pressing roll, framework, feeding hopper, cover, safety facility at the discharging point, wind box, “material discharging hopper, covers for discharging area, discharging device, double layer dust discharging valve and chimney etc.

The diameter of circular cooler is12.5 m, effective area is 69 m2. Material distribution height is about 760 mm. Cooling time is 45-50 min. The pellet will be cooled to less than 150 deg. C.

Over size pellets of +20mm and other particles will be sorted out through the fixed sieve before the pellet is sent to the circular cooling machine for cooling to ensure the cooling quality of the pellet.

The gas cover of the circular cooling machine is divided into three zones:

• Zone I: Hot gas enters the rotary kiln through its head cover as combustion air, • Zone II: Hot gas enters directly in to the air suction drying zone II of the 17ravelling grate bar machine; • Zone III: The gas discharged into the air through the chimney. The circular cooling machine is provided with 3 air blowers.

Under the discharging hopper of the circular cooling machine is buffer with capacity of 1620 m3, through which the material will be discharged uniformly under the control of the gate valve.

17 The circular cooling machine is applied for cooling 1250 deg. Centigrade pellet discharged from the rotary kiln. The sizes of the discharged pellet ore are 8-16mm.

Main Technical Parameters are:

1. Effective cooling area: 69 sqm; 2. Material handling capacity: 200 TPH; 3. Material to be handled: Hot pellet; Feeding temperature: about 1250 centigrade; 4. Feeding sizes: 8-16mm 5. Discharging temperature: less than 150 centigrade. 6. Intermediate dia of the circular cooling machine: 12.5m; 7. Width of the pallet: 2200mm; 8. Thickness of the material: 760mm 9. Normal cooling time: 45 min; 10. Driving device: type: pinion and girth gear driving.

10.7 Product Screening System

Pellet product (cooled pellets) are discharged into the belt conveyor through the buffer bunker under the circular machine and then transferred through the belt conveyor into the product screen house. A vibrating double deck screen is provided to screen out all the undersize pellets. The undersize pellets are sent back to the grinding section by set of conveyors. The correct size pellets are sent to stock yard by conveyor system.

10.8 Product Storage

Pellets from Pellet screening station are conveyed to the pellet stockyard by means of conveyor C-16. An electronic belt weigh is provided on conveyor C-16 to measure the outgoing pellets. At the stockyard, the pellet are, stacked in 2 piles of 22.5 (w) x 150 m (I) x 6.0m (h) by means of a twin –boom stacker of 200 TPH capacity. The pellet stockyard has a capacity of about 40000 t, which takes care of 10 days pellet production. The pellets are reclaimed by means of 2 no. Front end loaders to load trucks for dispatch.

10.9 Utilities

Fuel Oil Facility

Fuel Oil storage system is designed as standalone facility to cater to the requirement of furnace oil for Pellet plant. Storage capacity is designed to meet the oil requirement for a maximum period of 15 days. The storage system consists of 2 numbers of main storage tanks, heaters, dykes around the storage tanks, unloading pumps, transfer pumps and piping network along with heat tracing and insulation,

18 valves and fittings for unloading oil into tank and distribution of furnace oil to consumers.

10.10 Repair Shop Facility

A repair shop is established to meet the day to day repairs and maintenance requirements of various units of the plant. The shop is equipped with machine tools like, Lathe, Milling machine, Drilling machine, Grinding machines etc. Other accessories like Workbench, tool cabinet, and surface plate and tool trolley table are also envisaged. Operations like Turning, Milling, Drilling, Grinding, Jig boring etc. can be performed on these machines.

10.11 Air Conditioning and Ventilation Facility

Air-cooled packaged type air conditioning plant is provided for the control room for the switchyard. Split A/C units are envisaged in the Executives rooms, Conference room & Laboratory. Appropriate ventilation facilities are provided for Main Substation for the switchyard & L T Sub-Stations in the pellet plant area to supply fresh air inside the premises and letting out the hot air.

10.12 Compressed Air Facility

The total estimated requirement of Compressed Air for the pellet plant is 2500 Nm3/hr at 7.0 Kg/cm2 g. To meet the above requirement it is proposed to install 3 air compressors of 1250 Nm3/hr out of which 2 are working and 1 is on standby. Necessary cooling towers, cooling water pumps, interconnecting air and water lines are installed in the compressed air facilities. To meet the air quality requirement of instrument and pneumatic conveying system 3 air dryers each of 1250 Nm3/hr are also installed. Inter plant air pipe lines are laid from the Compressed Air Station to various production units to supply compressed air.

10.13 Ventilation Facility

These facilities are provided for Main Substation for the switchyard & L T Sub-Stations in the pellet plant area to supply fresh air inside the premises and letting out the hot air.

10.14 Instrumentation and Process Control All process and equipment controls for Pellet plant will be carried out through PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). The total plant consisting of pellet plant shall be controlled and operated from a central control room (CCR). The control and instrumentation provided for the proposed pellet plant shall be considered based on the latest state of art technology in the field of control and instrumentation.

19 11 Process Description Raw material iron ore fines will be fed to Iron ore beneficiation system (beneficiated cake 184t/h) 80% -325 mesh. The beneficiation process is described above. For pelletization, we require filter cake of 8.5% to 9% moisture, therefore we are adopting Pressure Filter supplied by M/s Outotec (Larox) from Finland.

Filter Press system is then used to remove the excess water from the slurry to produce filter cakes of approximately 8.5% to 9% moisture. The produced Filter cakes are then transported to the proportioning building by belt conveyor. The raw material, Bentonite and the dust collected in the plant is subjected to automatic weight proportioning with set proportioning ratio according to production requirements.

The proportioned mix is then mixed in vertical mixer supplied by M/s EIRICH from Germany and the mixed proportioned is fed to Balling Disc building (Pelletizing). The Balling building is provided with 6 sets of 6 m dia. balling disc with 5 in operation and 1 standby. 0.5% to 1.0% water will be added in pelletizing process so as to realise optimum value of water content in the mix for palletizing and green pellets are produced.

The green pellets produced are screened by roller screen to screen out (-8 mm) mm and (+16) mm grain size and is then distributed onto wide belt conveyor and swing belt conveyor. It is uniformly distributed onto the travelling grate bed which has a specified thickness of 200 mm.

The green pellets are dried and preheated on travelling grate machine (4m width, 48 m Length). The drying process consists of Updraft drying section, Downdraft drying section, Preheating section I and Section II.

The Roasting and solidification process of pellet is done in the rotary kiln (5m dia, 35 m Length) and rolled along the circumference of rotary kiln. Specially designed Powder coal burner is installed at kiln discharge end and the flame length, high temperature position and, air- powdered coal ratio.With heat radiation action inside the kiln, the pellet is roasted at the same time of rolling so as to ensure uniform roasting. The roasting temperature of pellet is 1250 – 1350 0C.

The temperature of the pellets discharged from rotary kiln is about 1250 0C and is uniformly distributed on the pellet cart of annular cooler through receiving hopper of annular cooler. The pellet is then cooled to below 100 o C and is further oxidised in the annular cooler so that the FeO content is reduced to below 1%.

The discharging hopper of annular cooler discharges the < 100 o C finished pellet to finished product belt conveyor and then to product Stock yard through Tripper conveyor.

20 For De-dusting purpose, Plant De-dusting ESP has been installed. The dust collected is fed pneumatically to a collecting Bin in proportioning building and the same is reused as raw material.

The process flow of the pellet plant is given in Annexure-2 and also reproduced below:

21 12 Raw material Requirement The raw materials required for the proposed pellet plant are iron ore fines, pulverized coal (non Coking) that has a calorific value of 6800 Kcal/kg and 14% of ash content and Bentonite, which is used as binder. A brief description of potential sources of raw materials and quality are presented below.

The gross annual requirement of various raw materials (including Moisture) of the plant and their indicative sizes with probable source are given in table below.

Table 2: Annual requirement of major raw materials after introduction of fine ore beneficiation

Annual Sl. Requirement, Probable Raw material No. Tons Source 1 Iron Ore Fines 2,200,000 MSPL Mines

2 Coal 53,900 Imported

3 Bentonite 15,300 Gujarat Local Oil 4 Fuel Oil 15,600 Companies

The average chemical composition of raw materials used for production of acid Pellets are shown in Table below –

Table 3: Chemical Composition of Raw Materials

A. Iron Ore Fines

Chemical Composition %

Total Fe SiO 2 Al2 O 3 CaO MgO S P

53-54 12.58 2.78 -- -- 0.006 0.044

Physical Properties

Grain Size (mm) Moisture % Density (t/m3 ) LOI%

< 10 < 10 2.2 --

B. Coal Calorific Value Grain Volatile Ash S Kcal/Kg Size Matter 0 – 25 6800 – 7200 10 – 20 % < 14 % <= 5 % mm

22 C. Bentonite

Chemical Composition % Physical property

SidroO 2 Al 2 O 3 CaO MgO LOI Grain Size

38 38 6.70 0.80 <= 8 -50 mm

The Iron Ore fines for the pellet plant will be supplied from the captive mines of MSPL, situated near Hospet, which is about 21 km away from the proposed plant site. These fines shall be transported from mine by trucks.

High calorific value coal will be used as fuel for induration of the pellets. Coal will be imported and from the port of import will be transported to the plant site by trucks.

Bentonite shall be transported by road from Gujarat.

The specific requirements of raw materials (Dry & Net) Kg / t of Pellets is as under –

Table 4: Raw Material (dry & net). Kg/t of pellets

Specific Consumption Sr.No. Material Kg/ t 1 Beneficiated Iron Ore Fines 1023.55

2 Bentonite 12

3 Pulverised Coal 40

Table 5: Material Balance for Pellet plant

Input Output

Material % t/h t/yr Material % t/h

Beneficiat 87.1 ed Iron 89.19 155.07 1228154.4 Pellets 151.5 4 Ore Fines Process Bentonite 1.05 1.82 14414.00 3.10 5.39 Losses

W ater 9.76 16.97 134402.40 Evaporation 9.75 16.97

173.8 Total 100 173.86 1376970.8 Total 100 6

13 Quality of Pellets The average chemical composition of the acidic pellets is given in table below:

23 Table 6: Chemical Composition of Pellets Parameter % Iron Total (Fe) >63.5

Silica (SiO 2) <2.5

Alumina (Al 2 O3 ) <2.5 Sulphur (S) 0.001

The mechanical and metallurgical properties of the finished pellets will depend upon the physical and chemical characteristics of input raw materials.

The average mechanical and metallurgical properties of finished acid pellets of 8-15 mm size are given in Table below.

Table 7: Mechanical and metallurgical properties of finished acid pellets Sr. No. Parameter Value Size, 8 to 15 mm 95 % 1 + 15 mm 2.5 % max. -5 mm 2.5 % max. 2 Porosity 24 to 28 % 3 Cold Crushing Strength 250 Kg/p min. 4 ASTM tumble Index (+ 5,35 mm) 92 % min. 5 Abrasion Index (-0.5 mm) < 2 % 6 JIS swelling Index < 14 %

Typical indicative quality specification of BF grade pellets is furnished below:

Table 8: Typical Quality specifications of BF Grade pellets. Chemical Quality Parameter Specification Typical Fe 63% min 65.5% SiO2+Al2O3 5% max 4.5% Al2O3 0.60% max 0.55% Na2O 0.05% max 0.025% K2O 0.05% max 0.025% TiO2 0.10% max 0.10% Mn 0.10% max 0.08% P 0.04% max 0.03% S 0.02% max 0.01% V 0.05% max 0.02% Basicity (CaO+Mgo)/ (Si02+Al203) – 0.4 Moisture (free moisture loss at 105 degree centigrade) : 4% max (fair season), 6% max monsoon Physical Quality Screen Analysis Specification Typical -16mm, +9mm 85% min 88%

24 -9mm, +6.35mm 7% max 4% -5mm 5% max 4% Tumbler test (ASTM) Tumble Index (+6.35mm) 94% min 95% Tumble index (+0.6mm) 5% max 4% Metallurgical Properties Specification Typical Swelling (JIS) 20% max 18% Compression strength 250 Kg/pellet min 260 Porosity 25% min 26% Reducibility (JIS) 60% min 62

Typical indicative quality specification of DR grade pellets is furnished below:

Table 9: Typical Quality specifications of DR Grade pellets. Chemical Quality Parameter Specification Typical Fe 66.50% min 66.80 % SiO2+Al2O3 3.10% max 3.00% Al2O3 0.60% max 0.55% Na2O 0.05% max 0.025% K2O 0.05% max 0.025% TiO2 0.10% max 0.10% Mn 0.10% max 0.08% P 0 04 % max 0.03% S 0.02% max 0.01% Basicity (CaO+Mgo) / (Si02+Al203) – 0.5 Moisture (free moisture loss at 105 degree centigrade) : 4% max (fair season), 6% max monsoon Physical Quality Screen Analysis Specification Typical -16mm, +9mm 85%min 88% -9mm, +6.35mm 7%max 4% -5mm 5%max 4% Tumbler test (ASTM) Tumble Index (+6.35mm) 94%min 95% Metallurgical Properties Specification Typical Swelling (JIS) 20% max 18% Compression strength 250 Kg/pellet min 260 Porosity 25% min 26% Reducibility (JIS) 60% min 32

14 Water Requirement In the pellet plant, for pellet making process water is required for process, cooling of equipment, dust suppression, fire fighting and drinking and sanitary needs the estimated water requirement is briefly 465.21m 3/day.

25 However the fine ore beneficiation process will require water to the extent of difference between the water content of the outgoing filter concentrate cake (about 10%) and tailing cakes (15-18%) and the water intake with the fine ore from the mine (about 4-6%). To this quantity, the process loss, blow down loss and evaporation loss of the circulating water need to be added. For the beneficiation process, the gross make up water requirement will be 0.455X10 6m3/Year or 1380m3/day.

The total estimated make up requirement of water for the pellet plant with fine ore beneficiation at rated capacity therefore come to 1845.9 m3 /day.(76.9 m3/Hr) The water is proposed to be made available from the bore wells/rain water storage at the site and water from TB dam as per present allocation from Karnataka Government.

Table 10: Water requirement Sr. Qty Purpose No. (m3/day)

1 Beneficiation process 1380

1 Pelletizing Process 276.75

2 Cooling of pellets 174.01

3 Domestic 14.45

1845.21 Or Total 76.9 m3/Hr

In beneficiation most of input water is in the form of retained water with the filter cakes of the concentrate and tails. This water is totally evaporated finally and no effluent loss is expected. In the cooling towers, the blow down is about 2-3%. This water is used for plantation and spraying in the raw material yard to contain dust. .

The water requirement met from surface water resources. The water from Tungabhadra Dam is pumped to the RCC Filtered water storage tank. The Tungabhadra Dam Board had sanctioned a total of 2.5 MGD.

15 Power Requirement The power requirement for the Beneficiation and Pellet Plant is 6.6kV and will be met by the Karnataka State Electricity Board sanctioned quota. Power will be received at 220 kV from Utility (GESCOM) and stepped down to 33 KV and again to 6.6kV for further distribution. The maximum demand of the total plant covered under this report is about

26 15 MW at 0.95 p. f. with an annual energy consumption of 80 million units.

210kV supply will be stepped down to 33 KV through 1 No. Of 63 MVA power transformer. This is installed in the 220 KV switchyard at MRSS. The control and Relay panels for the 220 kV bays are installed in the control/switchgear building adjacent to the switchyard. A 6.6kV switchboard is installed in the switchgear Room to feed the loads of Ball Mill and stockyard area. The 6.6kV switchboard will also feed a separate 6.6kV substation to feed the Mixing, Balling, induration and screening areas. 6.6/0.433kV substations are located at different load centres to cater to LT loads of the plant Reactive power compensating equipment has been provided in the 6.6kV buses at MRSS to maintain a power factor of 0.95. Illumination of the plant for the required level of illumination will be as per industry standards.

16 Manpower Requirement The present project is providing direct employment to nearly 168 workers. The local persons have been given preference in employment as per the qualification and technical competencies. Necessary training has been given to train the unemployed youths of the nearby villages. Indirect employment opportunities have been created in the periphery of the project automatically as the project started operation in the region.

In order to operate and maintain the plant facilities, including its technical general administration needs, the manpower in the Iron Ore Pelletization Plant is estimated as 314. The above manpower covers the top management, middle and junior level executives and other supporting staff including workforce. The category wise break-up of manpower is indicated in the following table.

Table 11: Category-wise break-up of Manpower

Sr. No Category Man Power 1 Managerial 30 2 Technical 68 4 Skilled 129 5 Semi-skilled 57 6 Un-skilled 23 7 Clerical 7 Total 314

27 17 Environment Management The pollutants in the form of solids, liquids and gases generated from various technological units of Iron Ore Pelletization Plant have no hazardous effects on the environment. Pollution of the environment not only adversely affects all life forms, but also shortens the life of plant and equipment. This vital aspect, therefore, has been taken into account while planning the plant and equipment and adequate measures are being taken to limit the emission of pollutants within the stipulations of statutory norms. Adoption of technology like recovery of dust/ash for re-use as raw material fulfils the twin objectives of material conservation and pollution control.

17.1 Air pollution

Pollutants of concern from the proposed pellet are Particulate Matter, Sulphur Dioxide, fugitive emission etc.

A stack of 75 m Height have been provided in Plant.

The MSPL is getting screened raw material and is stock piled in the premises. Spraying of water on the stockyard stockpiles controls any fugitive emissions from this area.

An ESP located near the travelling grate does the process de-dusting of the drying & induration area.

Plant de-dusting system for all the material transfer points and screens is carried out by a bag filter system. Dust collected from the bag filters is re-circulated

Pulverised coal is used as fuel for induration of pellets in rotary kiln of Induration area. Coal is pulverized in vertical roller mill. This mill is located in the same building of Ball mill for grinding iron ore and bentonite. The mill is connected to the cyclone, bag filter and an ID fan. Ground coal is collected in a bin below the bag filter. Product from cyclone is also fed to the ground coal bin. 2 nos of ground coal bins/hoppers are provided below the ground coal bin.

The dried waste gas will be discharged into the air through the chimney.

28 17.2 Water pollution

17.2.1 Pellet making facilities

Waste water generation is only due to domestic and washing or cooling water from pellet plant. The wastewater generated will be treated in the STP and reused for plantation purposes. The makeup water requirement for proposed pellet plant is only 12 m3/hr, This is mainly used for cooling, make-up water dust suppression, process and domestic use. The proposed water demand will be met from Tungabhadra dam reservoir.

There is no effluent generated in the Iron Ore Pelletization Plant. The plant has been designed and equipment has been selected accordingly. Thus, the plant is designed as “ZERO DISCHARGE”.

17.2.2 Fine ore beneficiation

The fine ore beneficiation needs process water for making iron ore slurry to be passed through the various equipments as needed for wet concentration of Fe in the ore. However most of this water comes back to the circuit from the thickeners and filters used for making the final concentrate and tailing cake. The major use of the water is to account for the difference in the water contents of the concentrate (8-10%) and the tail (15-18%) and the water input with the fine ore (-) 10 mm (4- 6%). Water losses are due to evaporation and other process losses and blow down of the tanks (about 2-3%). The major used water therefore goes with the product and the tails which eventually gets evaporated in the drier or naturally. The process water lost is accumulated in a tank and used for irrigation and spraying in the yard. Thus the Fine ore beneficiation plant would also maintain a zero discharge of water from the units.

17.3 Noise pollution

The physical description of sound concerns its loudness as a function of frequency. Noise in general is sound which is composed of many frequency components of various loudness distributed over the audible frequency range. Various noise scales have been introduced to describe, in a single number, the response of an average human to a complex sound made up of various frequencies at different loudness levels. The most common and universally accepted scale is the 'A' weighted network dB (A). The scale has been designed to weigh various components of noise according to the response of a human ear.

The major sources of noise generation in the pellet plant are from fixed plant installations and external transport movements.

29 The common noise generating sources from the fixed installations are screens, vibrators, conveyors and rotary kiln and the ball mills. Apart from these, another noise generating source is DG set which will be operated occasionally i.e. used as a standby source of electricity. However, ID Fans are the major noise-generating source.

Trucks carrying the raw material into the plant premises and the finished product from the industry are the main sources of noise pollution.

Various measures to reduce noise pollution include reduction of noise at source, provision of acoustic lagging for the equipment and suction side silencers, selection of low noise equipment. In some areas where due to technological process, it is not feasible to bring down the noise level within acceptable limits, personnel working in these areas are provided with noise reduction aid such as ear muffler and also the duration of exposure of the personnel are limited as per the norms.

17.4 Solid Waste Management.

For the overall pellet plant, the pelletizing process practically generates no solid waste. A very small quantity of coal fines and iron ore fines will be generated and also dry dust from air pollution control equipment, which will be reused, in the industrial process. Hence there is no solid waste generation.

The fine ore beneficiation process however will generate tailing to the extent of about 35% of the input iron ore which would have Fe content 33.4% on an average in compliance with the latest IBM norm. At rated output of the plant, the annual generation of such tailing would be 650,000 t. The generated tailings from the tail slurry filter would be transported to a designated site inside the plant boundary for a few days till it is moved to a designated dumping yard outside the plant boundary within MSPL land to the east of the existing plant fencing to be stored for a few years till these tailings are reused. The proposed dumping site will be environmentally protected by providing green belt around and individual dumping stacks will be provided with a light green over growth. The actual dumping requirement would take some more time and a separate EC for the dumping site would be sought soon. The temporary stocking of the tails inside the plant boundary is shown in the revised plant layout drawing and the proposed dump site in the adjoining land is shown in the overall site drawing.

The dried domestic sludge generated from sewage treatment plant will be used as manure for green belt development.

30 18. Green Belt. Adequate green belt is provided all around the pellet plant and inside the plant premises. Locally available types of trees which are resistant to pollutants are planted. The detailed layout of the plant has been prepared with indicative area of plantation for the whole plant. The plantation has been done in a phased manner before commencement of operation of the Pelletizing Plant. The green belt is shown in the plant layout.

19. A Summary of this report is presented in a tabular form in the next few pages.

31 Summary

A Comparison between the present operating process and conditions and those proposed after introduction of fine ore beneficiation.

Sl. Parameter Now After modification No Pellet making with high Pellet making with low 1 Process grade(av. 63.5%) fine grade fine ore (53-54%) ore input input 1.2 million tons Pellets 1.2 million tons Pellets for use in sponge iron for use in sponge iron 2 Product kilns and blast furnaces kilns and blast furnaces mostly. mostly. Ore fine (-) 10 mm Ore fine (-) 10 mm 2.2 3 Input iron ore 1.3486 million tons; Fe million tons; Fe 53-54% 63-65% Other process raw 4 Unchanged materials • Wet grinding of ore fines and • Wet grinding of beneficiation of ore fines and iron content. other raw • Dry grinding of materials other raw • Proportioning materials 5 Process steps • Balling to green • Proportioning pellets • Balling to green • Heat induration to pellets hardened pellets • Heat induration to • Cooling hardened pellets • Despatch • Cooling • Despatch 41 acres out of available 113 acres. The modification would be limited to the existing plant site. However, 41 acres out of available some of the adjoining 6 Area of the plant 113 acres available land to be utilized to store tailing for a few years till their reuse. Separate EC for the temporary dump will be sought.

32 Sl. Parameter Now After Modification No.

6 Make up water requirement 19.4 m3/Hr 76.9 m3/Hr

7 Environment impact

The pellet plant uses ESP and bag filter to collect dust from the effluent gases as well as from the ambient The same steps will air inside the plant. continue. No air The process dust is pollution from the 7.1 Air pollution collected and beneficiation circuit recycled in the since it is a wet process. process. Spray is used to reduce dust in the yards and junction houses.

Introduction of beneficiation will require more make up water as explained above. Most of these water will be ultimately be evaporated either in The existing process the atmosphere or at uses very little water. the raw mix driers. 7.2 Water pollution Zero discharge of Water spilled from the water is practiced. processes and tank blow downs will be collected and used for spraying in the yards as well as for irrigation. Zero discharge of water from the plant site will be maintained.

33 Sl. Parameter Now After Modification No.

With beneficiation of fine low grade ores, a rejected portion called tailing will arise which is approximately 35% of the overall iron ore through put. This will be very low in Fe about 28.2% and In the present mostly of silica and process the entire alumina. The tailings solid waste is will be temporarily 7.3 Solid waste generation collected and re-used stored within the plant in the process. So boundary for drying there is practically no and then shifted to an solid waste adjoining site (land generation. owned by MSPL) for storage for a few years till it is used at the filling work of the upcoming steel plant in the site or used by employing some of the upcoming technologies for recovery of silica and alumina.

34 Sl. Parameter Now After Modification No.

(1) Poorer grade local iron ore fine including those owned by MSPL (with Fe 54-56%) which have a very restricted use in the Indian/local steel industry will find an outlet leading to the conservation of iron ore resources in line with our national mineral policy. (2) This would lead to clearing of accumulated low grade fine ore dumps in nearby mines. (3) The company would be able to increase the output of the mine with poor grade ore and would be able to lengthen the life of the better ore grade mine by reducing output. This would Overall advantages of improve the viability of the 8 this proposed pellet production. The modification present margin in pellet production from better grade ores is very thin. (4) Even when the company is to buy fine ore from the market in Karnataka, going for poorer grade fines would give price advantages. Now that demand of poor grade fine ores from China had dwindled and import of low grade fine ore is restricted in China. (5) In the present highly depressed price situation of iron ore and pellets the modification would bring cost reduction of the manufactured pellets thereby providing better margin for the company.