Due to supply of poor quality iron ore, steel manufacturers in Karnataka have been facing several difficulties like sharp rise in cost of operations, maintenance shutdowns. The supply of low-grade and sub-grade iron ore has also resulted in higher consumption of coke in steel making, as well as affecting the life of their blast furnaces, say media reports.
JSW Steel and Kalyani Steels in Karnataka’s mineral-rich Bellary district, have shut their blast furnaces many times in the past year due to poor quality ore.
The companies' consumption of fuel has gone up by 20 per cent, while slag (a residue that comes out in the process of smelting of metallic ore) output has gone up 42 per cent, thereby causing losses to the steel makers.