Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Tata Steel is one of the largest steel producing companies globally, with manufacturing operations in 26 countries and annual crude deliveries of about 28 Mt in 2017.  With ambitious plans to expand its steel production at the Jamshedpur plant in Jharkhand and the Kalinganagar plant, located in the state of Odisha, the company was looking for a partner to help their nearby mines keep pace with the fast growing demand. To enable Tata Steel to achieve its goals, Metso has provided its Life Cycle Services solution to two mining sites, Katamati and Khondbond.  This has allowed Tata Steel to reduce risks and concentrate on its steel production while Metso will ensure that it’s minesite machinery is always available and producing enough ore to meet the growing demand from the nearby plants.

With the growing global steel demand, Tata Steel has to increase production capacity at its Jamshedpur plant from 6.8 to 10 Mt/y, while targeting 8 Mt/y from the Kalinganagar plant. To feed the demand from the plants, iron ore production at nearby Khondbond and Katamati minesites had to be grown significantly. In addition to the vast increase in throughput required, there were also challenges in meeting high safety requirements, community related issues, and meeting its production goals in the most environmentally sound way. Keeping the future requirements in mind, Tata Steel considered options to consolidate all production with a major OEM supplier capable of handling all aspects of production, for the company to concentrate on its core business of producing steel.

“Initially, before making this contract for Noamundi (Katamati), we thought that we require a partner who can supply the total package. A partner with good expertise, taking care of the site-specific challenges, particularly safety, connecting with the community and handling the process in an environmentally friendly manner”, stated RP Mali, Chief of Noamundi and Katamati Iron Mine at Tata Steel. Another key technical issue at both the mine sites was the need to produce a different mix of end products as Khondbond site was slated to produce a mixture of lumps and fines, while Katamati’s mandate was changed to produce mainly fines. This would have required setting-up of a second circuit to meet the changing requirements.  Another factor complicating the production process was different quality of the feed material used at both sites, with Khondbond being fed primarily with hard ore and the Katamati site having more blue dust and softer ores.

In November 2015, the contract was awarded to Metso for two plants of 250 t/h at both sites, and included the operation of the plants, material stacking as well as the final logistics inside the mines area. With the plants now in full production, the results have been strong with good production while delivering on safety which is a key area of interest for Tata.

Metso LCS agreements are built on program levels that are designed for different customer needs and are tailored to suit the business and production goals of specific sites. The aim is to maximise equipment uptime, ensure the highest end product quality and secure continuous production for the customer. Accomplishing these aims involves leveraging Metso Field Service technicians, along with ensuring the right wears and spares are used for each job.  At the Tata Steel mine sites covered by LCS agreements, the contracts include:

• Capital equipment such as Metso crushers and screens including nine Nordwheelers (five GP220D, four C106) spread over two mines.
• Inspections and maintenance planning of all equipment.
• Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and inventory planning.
• Preventive and corrective maintenance.
• Spare and wear parts supply.
• Operation of the equipment and throughput optimisation.
• Logistics of bringing the ore from the mine to crushing plants.
• Guaranteed production levels and cost under a cost per tonne plan.

“Our association with Tata is more than 25 years old. Right from day one we have been working with them as a technology partner. We worked with Tata from the conceptual stage to understand their requirements and re-model our offering to suit their requirements in terms of equipment and systems. Going forward, we have shifted our gears from a technology partner to performance solution provider,” explains Vijay Dhar, Vice President, Minerals Services & Mining Equipment, Metso India.

Kamal Pahuja, Vice President, Mining & Aggregates, Metso India added: “When we do that gear shift from a technology provider to solution provider, there is an immense sharing of knowledge which happens. In fact, working together with Tata, we have come to understand each other’s challenges very well and see how we can add value to each other’s functions. A lot of knowledge sharing is happening, and better understanding of each other’s challenges helps us to deliver the performance that is needed.”